


The Marauders and the Arenotelicon

by wolfiefics



Series: The Maurauders at Hogwarts [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Marauders Year One, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 14:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 33,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfiefics/pseuds/wolfiefics
Summary: The Marauders James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew start their first year at Hogwarts and, while out sneaking around the fascinating world that they were learning about, discover a monster hidden within the forest that was making its presence known for the first time in almost 500 years.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Like many mythical creatures, there is a possibility that the arnotelicon is based on fact. There have been reports of attacks by creatures as described in this story well into the 20th Century. It is believed to be a member of the mustelid family, which gives us wonderful creatures (depending on point of view, I suppose) such as the skunk, wolverine, pine marten and ferret. There have been other speculation that the Beast of Gevaudan in the 19th Century (believed to be an arenotelicon) could have been a hyena, wolf pack or even speculations have been made of a serial killer taking advantage of the European wolves penchant for human meat following the wolf attacks during and after the advent of the Black Plague. All of the characteristics noted in this story are actual documented (such as can be done in medieval times) details of attacks by the arenotelicon or similar creature(s).

Remus Lupin had many dreams, but they were usually just that, dreams. Dreams took him to places that books could not. Faraway lands that had never been invented, cavorting with friends he'd never had, and defeating creatures that he'd never seen with a wave of his wand.

On his eleventh birthday when other boys and girls in the wizarding world got up with eager excitement, Remus moped in his four-poster bed until the family house elf, Teffie, shooed him out of it, after which he moped at his desk, half-heartedly reading through a book on Muggle fantasy creatures his father had given him the night before.

He was so dejected that he paid no attention to the knock at the door downstairs nor his father's call to see who it was from the basement where Lupin senior had his potions laboratory. His father marched up the stairs, gave a long sorrowful look up toward his son's bedroom and walked to the door.

Phineas Lupin opened the door and gave a tentative smile of pleased surprise. "Albus Dumbledore? Welcome to Lupin Hall! Won't you come in?"

An elderly wizard with long white hair and beard stepped in, surveying his surrounding with twinkling blue eyes, pulling his deep purple robes tightly about his wiry thin frame. "Why thank you, Phineas. Everything going well in the world of potions?"

Phineas shrugged his thin shoulders and smiled beneath his salt-and-pepper mustache. "Not bad, not bad at all. Been working, you know, on a potion for my son..." His voice trailed off and Lupin's amber eyes saddened.

"Your son is why I'm here, Phineas." Dumbledore's mouth twitched beneath the beard. "Would you care to open the door again and let the owl in?"

"Owl?" Phineas looked bewildered but did as he was told.

A brown barn owl swooped in and headed for the grand but dilapidated staircase. It swooped upward and soared out of sight down the long hall upstairs.

"Please, this way," motioned Phineas to the parlor on the right. He was curious as to why an owl was winging its way toward his only child's bedroom. "What did you need to speak to me about?"

"We shall wait a few more minutes for your son to join us," said Dumbledore simply and Phineas, unable to do more, merely nodded.

The thunder of excited footsteps could be heard moments later on the stairs and the incredulous shouts of Phineas' son, Remus, could be heard echoing through the house.

"Papa! Papa! I got an owl from Hogwarts! Papa! I got my letter! I got my letter!" Remus came skidding into the parlor and his jaw dropped open in astonishment at the sight of Albus Dumbledore sitting neat as you please on a rather care worn loveseat.

"Hello, Remus," greeted Dumbledore casually, ignoring the open-mouthed gaze of the slender, pale youth in front of him. "You are doing well, I trust?"

Manners kicked in automatically and Remus replied, "Very well, sir, thank you for asking."

Dumbledore smiled indulgently. "I came to tell you both that I believe that, with some special arrangements every full moon, there should be no problem with Remus attending Hogwarts these next seven years. I must stress that should either of you have any problems with the arrangements, I will have to withdraw the invitation."

Phineas looked at his son, who was both excited and flabbergasted. Three weeks ago, as Remus' eleventh birthday drew near, they had both somberly discussed what Remus would do for continued schooling should he not be allowed to attend Hogwarts. Phineas was suddenly wary of allowing his son to go. The prejudices against werewolves would make school life a living hell, but Phineas also knew that his only child had dreamed of Hogwarts for so long that he could not deny him this opportunity.

Hogwarts represented friends, adventure and the life that Remus had wanted for so long. Phineas couldn't bear to take that chance away from his son. Remus had been dealt such a bad hand in life already; Phineas didn't have the heart to make it any more difficult. He prayed silently that Remus would be cautious. His fears were put to rest as his son straightened up and looked from both his father to the Hogwarts Headmaster.

"What are these arrangements?" asked Remus shrewdly.

Dumbledore blinked at the child before him. 'Old before his time,' Dumbledore thought sadly to himself. 'Like so many others of his kind.' It was a shame really, it wasn't the boy's fault he'd been bitten but he would be ostracized for it all the same.

"There is an old shack on the edge of Hogsmeade that is boarded up. I have magically dug a tunnel from the school to the shack where you can go and stay during the full moon. To safeguard the tunnel and to make sure your wolf form does not get out, I've taken the liberty of planting a Whomping Willow, a tree that will guard the entrance of the tunnel. Spells will be cast on the shack and tunnel to make sure than no one can enter or exit it except through the entrance by the tree." He looked from father to son. "I will of course make sure that Remus'...special circumstances will remain with myself, the school nurse, the groundskeeper and his head of house when he's been sorted. If Remus chooses to make it known to anyone else, that is -"

"I won't." The words were spoken in a hard tone, brooking no argument. Amber eyes so similar to his father's stared at Dumbledore. "If my father accepts these conditions, I do too. Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, you won't regret it, I promise."

Dumbledore sighed. "Remus, I do this because you deserve a chance. You are punished otherwise for something that you have no control over. If you are anything at all like your parents you have ability and cleverness in great abundance. I also know that you have been very alone, more out of necessity than anything else. I'm giving you a chance to be as normal as possible." Dumbledore smiled encouragingly. "Your father is clever. I have absolute faith that he will find a way to help you eventually. In the meantime, you have this opportunity so do not let us down."

For the first time since he'd skidded to a halt in the parlor, Remus looked like the eleven year old boy he was. "Papa, I'm going to Hogwarts!" he shouted and threw his arms around his father's neck.

Phineas hugged his son tight, tears forming in his own amber eyes. "Thank you," he mouthed silently to Dumbledore over his son's shoulder.

"You are most welcome," Dumbledore mouthed back and he smiled hugely.

"Let's look at that letter and see what we need to get in London next week, eh, my boy?" said Phineas, pulling away from the hug and reaching for the letter. He paused, reconsidering. "Why don't you read it?"

Remus smiled, the years leeching from his features. Dumbledore wondered how long the boy would live. The monthly transformations were notorious for being harsh; so difficult in fact that many werewolves did not live past twenty-five years if they were bitten young.

"Dear Mr. Lupin," Remus read outloud, eyes shining, "we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find the enclosed list of all necessary equipment. Term begins September 1st. We await your owl no later than July 31st."

Dumbledore exited and closed the parlor door on the pair, smiling to himself. Moments like these made the job always more than worthwhile.


	2. Chapter Two

"Phineas!" Tom leaned forward and beamed at the two Lupins as they entered the small, unobtrusive pub called The Leaky Cauldron. "What're you doin' in London?"

"Taking my boy shopping for Hogwarts, Tom," bragged Phineas, causing Remus to blush slightly. Several people congratulated the youth before turning back to their drinks. 

"Well, stop in for a pint 'afore you leave and have a chat. Been a long time since we done that, old friend!" called Tom as Phineas led his son to the small courtyard behind the pub. He tapped on the correct sequence of bricks and Diagon Alley began to appear as bricks shifted to reveal it.

Remus had rarely been to Diagon Alley and it was usually by Floo Powder, but this time, his father said, they would do it like Muggles. Phineas Lupin liked Muggles and often attended various Muggle community functions in their home village to "keep abreast of what's going on around us." Remus hadn't understood all of his father's reasons but he did admit that Muggles were a curious lot. Besides, one day he may have to live as a Muggle. Better to learn about them just in case.

"What's first on your list?" Phineas tipped his hat to several of his wife's former friends. One tersely smiled back but the others stared as if he were something that crawled from the gutter. Supressing a sigh, he turned to his son, who'd thankfully missed the exchange, intent on reading his letter.

"I need robes, three plain black work robes." Remus looked up with a slight smile. "I've got one set at home..."

"Nonsense," Phineas interrupted. "You'll need new ones. Leave the old ones at home. Might get a couple a bit bigger than you are now, you're growing pretty fast." Both immediately thought that he would need more than three, considering the condition of some of Remus' clothes following a full moon. "And we'll get some spares, Dumbledore will understand."

Remus wasn't about to argue. He followed his father, with brief stops as Phineas was waylaid by friends and acquaintances, to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. There were several other children Remus' age standing in line to be fitted with robes and Remus found himself standing awkwardly near two other boys.

Curious, not used to being around others his own age, Remus surreptitiously scrutinized the other boys. One had tousled black hair, hazel eyes and animated features. He was speaking rapidly with an older woman Remus assumed was his mother. "And then I want an owl, Mum, that way I don't have to use the school owls to send letters to you and Father," he was saying when Remus stopped in line close enough to hear.

"James, stop babbling, you're driving me insane!" The woman smiled fondly at her son and clucked as she tried to put order to his hair. "Just like your father," she murmured, shaking her head in consternation at the futile attempt. Remus noted that every strand returned to its former chaotic position.

The other boy got Remus' attention by tugging on his sleeve. "Hello, I'm Peter Pettigrew. I've never seen you here before. Are you a Muggle?"

Remus looked down at the small-statured boy with almond-shaped eyes and brown hair a bit lighter than his own. "I'm Remus Lupin and no, I'm not a Muggle. We just don't come to the city often."

"Oh!" Peter smiled in a friendly manner. "Your first year at Hogwarts? Mine too. Kinda surprised though." Peter leaned forward with an impish grin. "My mother's a Squib you see. We thought that might affect my chances at getting into Hogwarts. I'm not very magical myself, but I can do some stuff."

Remus gave a weak smile. He'd not done anything on his own. Everything he'd done had been either by accident or with his father's help. "I don't think I'm very good either," he confessed nervously. 

Peter's brown eyes shone brightly. "Well, looks like we'll be in this together then, eh?" He stuck out a short chubby hand and Remus tentatively shook it. "I don't have many friends and I look forward to having some at school."

Remus felt a warmth spreading through his body. He knew without a doubt he'd made his first friend. "Are you taking the train to Hogwarts?" he asked eagerly, missing the almost relieved look his father was giving him.

Peter nodded, a lock of brown hair falling in his eyes. He huffed a breath to push the lock aside. "Yeah," he replied with another nod, causing the wayward lock to fall back into his face. "You want to sit together?"

"I'd love it!" Remus' enthusiastic exclamation caused a couple of people to turn and stare at him, including the tousled haired boy.

"You two new at Hogwarts this year?" he asked. Both Remus and Peter nodded. "Me too." The boy stuck out a hand first to Peter and then to Remus. "James Potter."

"Potter?" Phineas said in surprise. "Elaine, is that you?"

James' mother looked up and burst into a sunshine smile. "Phineas! Bless me, it _is_ you. I wasn't certain, it's been so long since we've seen each other. I didn't want to say anything and look foolish."

"You, dear lady, could never be foolish. You married Matthew Potter, after all. Nothing foolish about that." Phineas winked at James, who grinned. "How is the old boy? Haven't gotten an owl from him in ages!" As Elaine and Phineas began conversing the three boys were left to talk on their own.

And talk they did. The three of them insisted on being fitted together so they could continue talking and then Elaine Potter allowed James to go with Phineas and Remus as the two Lupins continued their shopping. Peter waved farewell with a promise to look for them on the Hogwarts Express as his own mother dragged him off to the cauldron shop.

"Have you gotten your wand yet, James?" asked Phineas, frowning down at Remus' list after they'd visited the cauldron shop, Flourish and Blotts and several other stores that carried essential items for Hogwarts students.

"No, sir, not yet," confessed James.

"Well, then, you both shall be getting them right now. It's the only item left for Remus to get. Plus, I need to stop by Gringotts. We've spent everything I keep in the house, Remus, and I do need to get more monkshood, I just remembered. I'm certain that's a key ingredient to -" Phineas stopped talking suddenly and looked away slightly preturbed.

Remus could tell James was going to ask what the monkshood was for and quickly made up an answer to forestall his new friend. "My dad's an alchemist. He's always got some new potion idea brewing."

"Really?" James looked only slightly interested and quickly dropped the subject.

Phineas stopped in front of a dilapidated shop that had painted on it in faded, medieval style lettering "Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands Since 342 B.C." The three of them stepped inside and Remus looked around with great interest.

It was dusty. That was his first impression. There was also some broken crockery on the floor, but he didn't have time to wonder what had been broken. A voice spoke from behind the counter and his attention turned there. 

"Phineas Lupin. Oak, ten and three quarter inches." The man was creepy looking to say the least. His eyes glinted at the three of them in the almost nonexistent light and Remus could have sworn those orbs were silver in color. "Here with your son, I see." Ollivander turned to James. "And this is -?"

"James Potter, Matthew and Elaine Potter's son," Phineas introduced.

"Ah yes, your father goes through more wands than I can count, Mr. Potter. I hope you will have better care?" It was said as a question, but James didn't answer it. He was staring slack-jawed at Ollivander, as if stunned by the man. Remus was sure he looked similar to James.

"Well, then, we shall start with Mr. Potter." Ollivander scurried to the back and emerged with an elongated box. He pulled the top off and gently handed it to James. The boy flicked his wrist and his hair immediately stood on end, making him look as if he'd been electrocuted. "No, no, obviously not. But it seems you have a bent for Transfiguration, Mr. Potter, so let's try," Ollivander disappeared in the back again and emerged with another box, which he was opening, "this one."

He handed James the new wand and James gave it a flick. Two of the shelving units collapsed on the spot. Ollivander grimaced and with a wave of his own wand, the shelves leaped into place, followed by their contents. James looked embarrassed. "No. _Definitely_ not." Again the proprietor disappeared in the back and emerged with a wand, the box in his other hand. "Try this one, then."

James gave it a wave and a spray of rainbow sparks shot harmlessly from the end. "Perfect! Mahagony, eleven inches dead even, with a core of pegasus mane. Very good, very good." Ollivander replaced the wand in its box and handed it to James. "Seven galleons please." James handed over the money and Remus began to look around.

"Now then, Mr. Lupin the Younger." Ollivander approached him, coming around the counter. "I can tell you're going to be tricky, yes tricky." With a snap of his fingers a measuring tape appeared from thin air and began to measure every inch of Remus' body. "Right handed or left handed?" asked Ollivander shrewdly, staring at Remus as if inspecting his aura.

"Er, right?" Remus squeaked when Ollivander grabbed his arm and held it up, inspecting it this way and that. 

"Hmm, yes, definitely, excellent, excellent. I know just the wand." Ollivander disappeared back in the stacks for several long minutes. Both James and Phineas gave Remus reassuring smiles but it did little to alleviate Remus' worry. Did Ollivander recognize him for a werewolf?

"Here you go, Mr. Lupin, give that a wave and let's see what it does." Remus took the proffered wand and gave it a swish. A cascade of red and white sparks burst forth. "Perfect match. I've been trying to sell this wand for years. First one I ever produced after my apprenticeship with my father, Mr. Lupin," approved the proprietor, replacing the wand in its box. 

Phineas handed over seven galleons and turned to leave with a polite nod of thanks. James had already exited the shop and was staring down the street at something that had caught his interest. Remus paused before reaching the door and turned back to Ollivander. "Um, sir, what is the construction of my wand?"

Ollivander's silvery eyes stared inscrutably at him but Remus refused to look away. "Nine and three-quarter inches, walnut, with a core of werewolf whiskers." Remus blanched, nodded shakily and exited. 

It took the farewell to James and half the ride to the Lupin bank vault through the underground tunnels at Gringotts Bank before Remus managed to stop shaking. He kept hearing in his mind what Ollivander murmured as Remus had shut the door behind him.

"The wand chooses the wizard, oh yes, the wand chooses the wizard."


	3. Chapter Three

Remus stepped through the barrier between platforms nine and ten at King's Cross Station in London a few weeks later and he could feel the excitement boiling inside him. His father appeared behind him seconds later and they headed toward the hissing steam engine that occupied the tracks. People milled about, gathering their belongings, hugging, kissing or shouting farewell. Remus took it all in, his keen senses going into overdrive to keep up with it all.

"Remus." Phineas' voice was somber and Remus immediately diverted his attention to his sire. "Now pay attention. Send an owl in the morning at breakfast, let me know what house you're in and how everything went, alright?"

"Yes, Papa." Remus swallowed. It was suddenly striking him that he was on his own now, without his father there to help him, to guide him.

"And don't forget to get to the shack early just in case. If any accidents happen, you, Professor Dumbledore and myself will be in a lot of trouble."

"Y-yes, Papa," stammered Remus.

Phineas looked at his son, his eyes bright with tears. "I'm proud of you, Remus. I know it's been hard sometimes but I want you to know that I love you and am proud of you." Remus blinked back his own tears, unable to speak. He merely nodded and hugged his father tightly around the waist. "Now, behave and send me owls regularly so I don't worry."

Remus nodded again, trying to speak past the lump in his throat. He cleared it and spoke in a ragged voice. "When you... when you visit Mum, tell her... tell her that I love her and that I'm all right?" Remus had realized the night before it would be the first time that he would not be visiting his mother's grave on her birthday. It was a special outing for father and son that neither had missed since her death four years earlier.

Phineas smiled at his son, a lone tear streaking down his cheek. "You know I will. Teffie gave me this to give you. She was sobbing her heart out when I left her in the kitchen this morning. She said it has your favorite cakes and sweetmeats. Here's some money for the sweet cart. There's always someone selling sweets on the train. Don't overindulge but have a couple of chocolate frogs."

Remus nodded again. "Okay." He hesitated and then hugged his father again. "Thank you, Papa, I love you. Bye."

Phineas whispered good bye and soon Remus was watching his father stroll down the platform and disappear through the barrier. The younger Lupin straightened his shoulders, turned around and marched to the nearest empty car. He clambered in and pulled the door shut, pressing his face against the window as he searched for his friends from Diagon Alley. 

He spotted chubby Peter Pettigrew getting bussed on the cheek by his weeping mother. Remus waited until Peter was actually walking down the train tracks, rubbing his cheek in chagrin, before poking his head out to shout. "Hey, Peter! Over here!" Peter's face lit up and he raced to the door. Remus pulled his new friend in and they began chatting immediately.

"Excuse me," drawled a voice. The two boys stopped talking and turned to the interior doorway. "I'm looking for James Potter. Seen him?"

Remus took immediate measure of the tall, lanky, black-haired boy and liked what he saw. "He was going to sit with us," Peter said cheerily. "You can join us if you like."

The other boy looked bemused, but shrugged and collapsed next to Remus. "I'm Sirius Black and you are?" He gave a roguish grin and ran a hand through his longish hair. Remus noted that the hand shook just a bit, betraying the calm exterior that Black presented.

"Peter Pettigrew, nice to meet you." Peter grabbed Sirius' hand and shook it vigorously. Sirius gently pulled his hand away after a moment and shoved it toward Remus.

Remus tentatively shook it, aware of his own magnified strength and then let go quickly. "Remus Lupin."

"You're kidding," Sirius said in stunned disbelief. "Honestly?"

Remus was confused for a moment. "Yes," he replied hesitantly.

"I'd sue. Your parents have a wicked sense of humor. Ragged a lot for that name, weren't you?"

Remus started to understand what Sirius was saying. He privately thought that Sirius had no idea how coincidental his name really was. After all, according to Roman myth, Romulus and Remus were two twins, raised by a she-wolf, who founded the Roman civilization. "Not really. I was tutored at home."

"Wish I was. Either of you from Muggle families?" Sirius leaned forward. 

"Muggle?" queried Remus curiously. "No. Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "No reason. With all the fuss my family makes about them I was curious. You'd think they were four-armed demons sent to devour wizards the way they go on about them."

Sirius continued to talk while Remus studied him. Black hair and piercing grey eyes, Sirius Black had the look of a pure blood....the manners of one too. He was elegant and arrogant, yet there was something distinctly different about him. For one thing he had no respect for his parents' opinions of Muggles and seemed eager to meet Muggle-borns. Something in his tone suggested to Remus that Sirius' home life wasn't comfortable because of his alternate views regarding Muggle-born wizards and witches.

"...can't stand anyone who's not pureblood. At least at school I won't have to listen to them rant on!"

"Sounds horrible," commiserated Peter bracingly. 

Sirius nodded and then looked around slyly. "Wanna see my impression of my father?"

Remus and Peter's mouths twitched as Sirius acted his impression of his father and his family in a situation where they had to meet Muggles. Soon the three of them were howling with laughter.

"I've been searching all over this train for you three and here you are making fun of me!" James Potter appeared suddenly with a mock outraged expression.

"Don't be guff," snorted Sirius. "Was making fun of my," he affected the snobbish tone again, "fahthah."

"Oh for the love of Merlin," James said with a roll of his eyes. "What'd he do this time?"

"He's still angry at me about going into Muggle London. If he wasn't so eager to get me out of the house with my 'radical notions', I wouldn't have even gotten to go to Hogwarts!" Sirius vented. James merely grinned. "Was never so glad to see the back of anyone than my mother and father today. And that brown-nosing brother of mine. And then that blasted house-elf gave me _this_!" He held out a smashed sandwich that he'd dug from his jacket pocket. Or at least Remus thought it was a sandwich. The glob in Sirius' hand was a bit indescribable.

Remus peered at it. "Looks like one of my father's experiments." 

Sirius gave a shout of laughter. "Probably tastes worse though."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Remus informed him. "I've had to taste some of them." He shuddered at the thought of the last one his father had conjoled him into sip. It had given him stomach cramps for three days.

"What is it?" Peter poked it cautiously with one of his index fingers.

"No idea, want it?" Sirius offered it but Peter reared back and shook his head emphatically.

"No worries, Sirius, I'm sure we can all spare you something, or you can get something off the cart. I've heard this witch comes around with sweets," James advised his friend. 

The train gave a lurch and then began to pull away from the station. The four of them pressed their noses against the windows for a last look at the station. James sat back with a cat-ate-the-canary smile and announced, "Well, we're on our way, fellows, and it looks like we've got it made." 

"Any idea what house you might be in?" asked Peter nervously.

"Papa was in Ravenclaw. I'll probably go there," Remus volunteered.

"Anything but Slytherin," groaned Sirius. "I'll even take Hufflepuff. It would hack my parents off to no end if I wound up in Gryffindor though!"

James laughed. "My family's always been Gryffindor, so I'd wager I'll be there too." He turned to Peter. "What about you?"

"My mum's family was all Hufflepuff, my Dad was Ravenclaw," shrugged Peter. "Anywhere is fine with me."

"Not bad," commented Remus bracingly. "It could be worse."

"Yeah, you could be in Slytherin," chortled Sirius.

"No offense, Sirius, but I'd shoot myself with a Muggle gun if I were in Slytherin," James stated firmly.

Sirius' "no offense taken" was drowned out by another voice, a sneering whispery voice from across the hall.

"There's a prayer to be answered if ever I heard one. If it happens I do believe I could believe in miracles."

"Shut up, Snape, and stick your nose back in your books." James seemed to bristle on the spot. Another boy appeared in the doorway. He had sallow features, a sharp, slightly hooked nose and black hair that looked slightly greasy. "For those of you who care, this is Severus Snape, an all around irritating, slightly foul-smelling, and definitely watch-your-back-around-him-type. He's perfect for Slytherin. Note the beady eyes."

Snape sneered at James and turned his attention to Sirius, who was gazing at him malevolently. "So you must be the wanna-be Muggle in our generation, eh? Every generation has to have one, I suppose."

Sirius leaned back, suddenly every inch the aristocrat, and drawled in a perfect Oxford tone, "My good man, I'm as pure blood as you're going to find on this train. I would have thought a vampire like you would be able to spot prime pure blood the moment you laid eyes on me."

Snape froze, his black eyes narrowing. "Too bad the purity ran only to blood and not to brains. Perhaps pure bloodedness isn't such a good thing. Inbreeding will occur, I suppose." With that, the boy turned away and went back across the hall, slamming the door to his compartment shut with a bang.

James sighed. "I'll never understand the working of that boy's mind for as long as I live. His dad gives me the creeps though and my mum is always muttering under her breath when Mrs. Snape passes us at Diagon Alley." James leaned forward. "Watch your back around him, he knows loads of Dark Arts stuff."

The four of them turned pensive faces to the shut compartment door. "He was creepy," confessed Peter into the silence.

"I agree. He's a sad tosser," agreed Sirius. "Reminds me a lot of my dear family."

"He's what?" asked Remus.

"An idiot," translated James. "Get used to it. We'll probably know more Muggle slang than anyone else by the time this train ride's through. Sirius is an expert."

Sirius merely grinned. "Anything to hack off the parents."


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I beg forgiveness for lifting one of JK's Sorting Hat songs. I'm not very good at rhyming and poetry and at the time was just to lazy to try. Kudos to Jo for doing so many!

It took most of the day and several boxes each of chocolate frogs to make the trip to Hogwarts but in the end, the four boys agreed it was well worth it. They became fast friends and when the locomotive hissed into the station at Hogsmeade, the village near the school, it was agreed that no matter what house the four of them went into, they would remain loyal friends.

Remus was astounded by his astonishing turn of fortune. Not only was he going to Hogwarts but he also had three good friends in a short span of time. He was getting ready to turn and ask Sirius a question but it was immediately forgotten when a deep booming voice bellowed over the noise of milling students.

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years all gather 'round me!"

"Holy God," gulped Sirius loudly. "He's bloody _huge_! Is he a giant or something?"

Remus wasn't sure what the man was but his instincts told him right off the giant man with the shaggy brown hair and beard was someone to be trusted.

"Who knows?" shrugged James and strode forward to join the gathering group of students.

"That alla ya?" The giant man peered into inky darkness, waving his big railway lantern about as if hoping to spot more. "Well, if this is alla ya, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. I'm to escort ya to th' school so step this way." The group followed in Hagrid's large footsteps until he stopped at a small pier. "Everyone into the boats. Ye can probably get about three or four per boat." 

Remus clambered into one and helped Peter in as well. Peter's eyes were large and Remus could smell fear thick in the air. James and Sirius followed. The four boys were just settled into the boat when there was a shriek from a red-haired girl, who was pointing at the churning water a short distance from their tiny crafts.

"Ah don' worry about that, it's just the giant squid. He's harmless." Hagrid seemed unconcerned by the water's disturbance and the boats began to move magically across the huge lake. 

As the mist parted, Peter leaned forward and hissed excitedly, "Look! Look! It's Hogwarts!" Not one single first year was unimpressed, Muggle or Magical. Remus caught an awed look on Severus Snape's face in the boat ahead of their as the lantern brushed a swath of light across his sallow complexion.

"Magnificent!" breathed Sirius. "I've never seen a castle with that many turrets and towers still standing!"

The boats approached the cliff on which the huge castle rested and Hagrid shouted suddenly, "Duck yer heads now!" right before the boats drifted beneath a curtain of ivy-like vines. The boats continued their course through an underground cavern until they came to rest on a gravely shore. Everyone scrambled out of the boats, helped pull them a bit more solidly onto the shore and then followed Hagrid to a huge door, which the giant man began to pound on.

The door swung open before Hagrid finished his third knock, revealing a stately witch with a tall pointed hat and flowing robes of what looked like green-black fabric. "Got the first years for ya, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid stepped aside and allowed the students to pass through. Remus followed Sirius, walking even with Peter. He saw Peter slide a nervous glance around him, but Remus actually felt at peace for the first time in a long while. No, not peace...safe. He felt safe.

The witch led them to a small chamber just off what Remus assumed was the Great Hall, considering it was filled with all the students (or the bulk of them considering the noise). Once everyone was gathered together around her, she held up her hand for silence, which was immediately granted.

"I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and the Transfiguration teacher. Welcome to Hogwarts. In just a few moments, you will pass through these doors here and be Sorted into your houses. For those who do not know, the houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Each house has a long, noble history and will be your family for the next seven years. You will eat together, take lessons together and live together in your house dormitory. There is a system of house points that can be earned or lost, depending on your actions while you are here. At the end of the school year, the points are tallied and the house with the most points wins the House Cup." She paused, looking around with a slight smile. "Now, I want you to remain here and I shall come to fetch you when they are ready."

She turned and vanished through a door at the opposite end of the room. Everyone looked at each other in nervous excitement.

"Anyone know what this Sorting is?" asked Sirius loudly. There a few murmurs but no one seemed to have an answer.

"Nervous you won't pass?" sneered Snape from the outside edge of the crowd.

"I figured if _you_ could get a letter, old boy, anyone could get in this place." Sirius turned his back on Snape but both Remus and James stepped up to defend him. Snape had pulled a wand from his robe sleeve and was pointing it right at Sirius.

"I wouldn't if I were you, Severus," growled James, pulling his own wand.

Remus grabbed James' wand hand as Sirius spun around, belatedly realizing the danger he was in. "Don't. We don't want to get into trouble," Remus advised both boys and after a moment, both Severus and James nodded stiffly at each other and turned away.

"Don't like him," muttered Sirius.

"And I told you not to turn your back on him. Sirius, he was going to hex you," James muttered back.

"Ssh!" hissed Peter as the door opened again, revealing a smiling Professor McGonagall.

"Everyone form a line and follow me please!" she called to them and there was a minor scramble to find a place. Like a line of marching ants, the first years followed the witch into the Great Hall. 

Remus remembered to look up at the ceiling as his father had always told him about it. Instead of flying buttresses and ornate paintings in the cathedral style room, the ceiling was enchanted to reflect the night sky. Stars twinkled amongst clouds and Remus swore he saw a shooting star fly overhead right before he bumped into James. "Sorry," he murmured. "Look up."

James glanced up and paused. "Wow."

Sirius, who was behind Remus, saw James look up and did the same. "That's _bloody_ brilliant!" Several students at the tables around them laughed softly at the exclamation.

"It's enchanted," Remus told them quietly. "Fantastic charm, eh?"

"Move!" shooed Peter, nervously looking at Snape behind him. Snape, however, was equally enthralled by the ceiling and hadn't noticed the pause.

The line resumed its course toward the front of the hall where a long table sat on a raised portion. At each seat was a Hogwarts teacher. Remus made a little wave at the headmaster, Dumbledore, who nodded briefly in acknowledgement. Everyone's attention was diverted back to McGonagall when she cleared her throat. 

"When I call your name, please come forward and place the hat on your head. It will then tell you what house you will be in."

She fetched a three-legged stool that had on the seat a ragged, torn, and extremely old wizard hat. It had patches on it in several places and Remus figured that if it wasn't special it would have been thrown out years ago. To his and the other first years' astonishment, another tear magically appeared and the hat began to sing loudly.

"A thousand years or more ago,  
When I was newly sewn,  
There lived four wizards of renown,  
Whose names are still well known:  
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,  
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,  
Sweet Hufflepuff from valley broad,  
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.  
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,  
They hatched a daring plan  
To educate young sorcerers  
Thus Hogwarts School began.  
Now each of these four founders  
Formed their own house, for each  
Did value different virtues  
In the ones they had to teach.  
By Gryffindor, the bravest were  
Prized far beyond the rest;  
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest  
Would always be the best;  
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were  
Most worthy of admission;  
And power-hungry Slytherin  
Loved those of great ambition.  
While still alive they did divide  
Their favorites from the throng,  
Yet how to pick the worthy ones  
When they were dead and gone?  
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,  
He whipped me off his head  
The founders put some brains in me  
So I could choose instead!  
Now slip me snug about your ears,  
I've never been yet wrong,  
I'll have a look inside your mind  
And tell where you belong!"

There was loud cheering and clapping. Remus found himself laughing with his three new friends. As McGonagall was unrolling her parchment of names, Sirius leaned over to Remus and whispered, "That's one very old, very clever hat!" Remus nodded as the first name, "Adder, Lucy!" was called. A tiny blonde girl scampered up and climbed onto the chair, placing the hat gingerly on her head. The tear opened and promptly announced, "Slytherin!" The Slytherin table roared its approval.

Sirius followed Lucy Adder, setting hat eagerly on his head. It took almost twenty seconds before the hat informed the student body that "Gryffindor!" was where Sirius belonged. James gave Sirius two thumbs up as the other boy swaggered to the Gryffindor table.

And so it followed. The Ls came up and there were three people whose last name started with L. Remus fidgeted through "Lipton, Casey!", who went to Ravenclaw, and "Ludd, Basil!", who went into Slytherin.

"Lupin, Remus!" called out McGonagall. Remus climbed the small steps to the stool, sat on the stool, and placed the ancient hat on his head, where it slipped down past his ears.

"Interesting! Never had one of _your_ kind before," whispered a voice within the inky darkness of the hat. Remus stiffened in shock. "Yet there's something special about you I will agree. Takes a lot of wishing, dreaming, and courage to get here despite it all, right? So how about GRYFFINDOR!"

To say Remus was stunned would be an understatement. He'd been positive he'd be in Ravenclaw. As he slid next to Sirius, who was clapping him congenially on the shoulder, he reflected that Gryffindor wasn't so bad. Now if James and Peter would just get in. As it turned out, fate continued to play nicely with Remus for "Pettigrew, Peter!" and "Potter, James!" each made it into Gryffindor.

Dumbledore stood up and made a small speech, warning the student body against using magic in the halls between classes and staying away from the Dark Forest beyond the school. The school song was sung and the feasting began. Soon after the first years were shown the way to the Gryffindor dormitory, given the password to get past the Pink Lady in the portrait guarding their sanctuary (Higgledy Piggledy) and then shown their sleeping quarters.

Reflecting on his first evening at Hogwarts, Remus figured it couldn't get any better. "Won't Papa be surprised?" he murmured to himself right before his eyes fluttered closed.

***

Breakfast the next morning was a hectic affair. In between toast and marmalade, pumpkin juice and going over the class schedule, Remus managed to write to his father the news of what house he was in and the friends he'd made. The class schedules were passed out and the four of them began to get ready for their first day at Hogwarts.

"Okay, we've got History of Magic, Herbology and Transfigurations Monday, Wednesday and Friday," said Sirius, frowning at the bizarre classes he found himself in. "Tuesdays and Thursdays are Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Magical Creatures. We've got a double potions class on Fridays." He looked up, still frowning. "Let's see if I can guess what all this nonsense is."

"Right," Remus agreed, "but wouldn't you know anyway? I mean with your family background?"

Sirius smiled sadly. "Ever since I started spouting my 'radical ideas', I've been banned from learning anything about magic. I don't get to listen in on conversations, I don't get to see anyone casting a spell, and I never get to have things appear for me. My father insisted that if I was going to want to support Muggles then I'd live like one. He thought it would teach me a lesson. HA!"

The other three boys looked shocked but Sirius merely shrugged. "Ready, then?" They nodded.

"Herbology is some sort of plant class and Transfigurations is shape shifting?" Remus nodded encouragingly. "I like the shape shifting part. You think we'll be doing a lot of that?" Sirius looked excited by the prospect.

"Not for a bit, I'd imagine," said James, leaning over his own schedule as if looking closer would reveal some secret. "Probably turning one object into another. My dad said people turning into animals is really hard, only for advanced magic users."

Sirius looked crestfallen. No doubt he had something planned, like turning his parents into spiders and stomping on them. "Go on," encouraged Remus, "keep figuring them out. Let's see how good you are at figuring out how to be a wizard." The joke was well-received as Sirius burst into laughter.

"All right then. Charms...aren't I charming enough?" He struck a heroic pose, accidentally bumping in the process the red-haired girl that Remus remembered from the boats the night before. "Oh sorry!" Sirius apologized.

"It's all right." She smiled at them and turned back to her own schedule. Remus noted that James was staring at the girl. Peter dug him in the ribs with his elbow and James jerked his attention back to his friends, looking flustered. 

"Keep guessing, Black, you're floundering," teased James to cover up his own lapse.

"Cram it, Potter," huffed back Sirius. "Okay, Defense Against the Dark Arts will probably be curses, hexes and defensive spells. Oh goody, just what I want."

"With _your_ family, might not be a half bad idea," stated Peter around some toast and jam.

"Good point, Peter. Magical Creatures would be learning about magical creatures, eh? Like dragons or pegasus?"

"Pegasi," corrected Remus, shoving the last bit of his toast in his mouth.

Sirius stared at him. "What?"

Remus chewed twice and then swallowed. "The plural for pegasus is pegasi."

"Oh." Sirius looked suspiciously at Remus and then turned to James. "He joshing me?" James shook his head, his mouth full of sausage. "All right then, and Potions...ick. "

"Got most of them. You missed a few though. We have History of Magic and Astral Magic Wednesday nights." Peter pointed out the skipped classes.

"No pressure here then," muttered Sirius. "Can't believe they want us to have all of these!"

"What's the matter, pure blood? Haven't even started and already can't take it?"

"Severus, do you ever have conversations of your own? Do you have to _continually_ butt into other peoples'?" asked James, turning in his seat to find Snape hovering. "Besides what would a Slytherin know about starting something? You haven't the guts."

Snape leered at them. "At least I know how to finish it."

"Sod off, pasty face," snarled Sirius.

"Will the three of you stop it?" hissed Remus as McGonagall's attention focused on them. 

"Is there a problem, boys?" The stately professor was suddenly standing over them all, looking down her aristocratic nose at them.

"No, Professor," replied James smoothly. "Sirius and Severus were just agreeing on the school schedule and how hectic it seemed."

"Well, you'd best be getting ready then if it looks so intimidating, then shouldn't you?" She stared at each one of them in turn with a stern gaze. Snape muttered something apologetic to her and walked away. 

When McGonagall herself had left their vicinity, Peter leaned forward to whisper, "Is he always that way?"

James shrugged, picking up his bags and standing up. "Ever since I've known him."

"Known him long?" asked Remus as he too stood up while gathering his bookbag.

"Long enough," was James' reply.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell this was written years ago and some of the information regarding the Marauders is out of date, either through interviews Jo has given or the information given out on Pottermore. I hope that doesn't invalidate the enjoyment however.

Remus decided halfway through the first week that he absolutely loved school. He knew that was bizarre but he was enjoying himself immensely. The classes were interesting, his friends could make each other laugh, and people all around him were friendly. Well, most of them anyway. The Slytherins were the exception to the friendly rule, especially Snape. Remus wasn't sure if it was because he and James already had a bad relationship or what, but Snape took great delight in doing nothing but sneering and insulting them everytime they met in the corridors, class or the Great Hall.

Other than Snape, though, things were going quite well. Remus dreaded only one thing: the coming full moon. In truth, it was still two weeks away but he'd confessed to none of his friends his situation and was starting to worry about what he'd do or say to escape before the end of the evening of the full moon.

The day drew closer and closer. The more Remus tried to think of something else, the more the situation bothered him. Finally, knowing that the Head of Gryffindor House, Professor McGonagall, would know of his circumstances, he decided to try and speak with her privately after Transfigurations. 

The lesson seemed to take forever and Sirius' clowning around didn't seem to help speed time up either. Once the bell rang for lunch, though, Remus slowly gathered his books. "I've got to speak to Professor McGonagall about something," he told the other three boys when they noted he wasn't moving very fast. "I'll catch up." 

He waited until the classroom emptied and then approached the stern matron's desk at the front of the room. McGonagall looked up, her eyes glittering strangely when she realized who wanted her attention. 

"Yes, Mr. Lupin?" she asked crisply, putting aside her quill and parchment as if realizing it was an important conversation.

"P-professor," Remus stammered, "I need to talk to you a-about next week." He swallowed hard, trying to figure out how to say what he needed to say but not really say it. He hadn't even said what he was outloud anywhere in case someone wondered why Remus Lupin would be even speaking about werewolves.

"You need an excuse?" she guessed. "Your mother is ill, Mr. Lupin. You have permission next week to visit her."

His brow furrowed. "But my mother's been - oh."

"Do your friends know your mother is," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "passed on?"

Remus' brow furrowed in thought as he recalled all of his conversations with his friends and classmates concerning family. "I don't think so."

"Very well, we shall use that then. You are excused to visit your mother once a month, due to her dire circumstances in the hope that seeing you frequently will bring about improvement in her health." Remus nodded slightly and his doubt must have shown on his face. "If that does not work, we shall simply conjure another reason, Mr. Lupin. Just make certain that you start mentioning your mother's poor health. Perhaps an owl to your father so that he may send 'updates' concerning your mother's condition?"

"I really think we should think of something else, Professor," he said hesitantly. "I mean, what if someone mentions it to their parents who know better. Or -"

"Mr. Lupin, merely keep it between you and those who have to know," McGonagall interrupted. "Stress to them that it is something you do not want gossiped about or mentioned due to your mother's sensitivity about the situation." She suddenly smiled at him. "Invent."

Remus looked at her in shock. "You mean _lie_?"

She gave him a considering look. "More like evasive truth. Your mother was ill before her death, was she not? It was not an illness she wanted people to know of?"

"She died of a broken heart," Remus replied baldly.

McGonagall frowned. "I know," she said softly. "We weren't great friends but she was a nice woman. Until it no longer suffices, the excuse will do, Mr. Lupin."

Resigned and still uncertain, Remus nodded. "Yes, Professor." He paused, sensing that the moment to ask question that had been plaguing him since being Sorted into Gryffindor was right. "Professor, may ask if you were hesitant about having me in your house?"

She blinked at him in surprise and was silent a few moments before answering. "At first, I was concerned, but I'm confident in the headmaster's precautions. You also seem eager to avail yourself of your good fortune and even in these few short weeks you have proven to be a very able student. No, Mr. Lupin, I might have been at first, but now I'm very pleased to know that you are a member of House Gryffindor."

Remus hadn't realized how important her 'blessing' was to him, but it was as if he'd been knighted. He beamed a smile at her and, clutching his book bag, hurried off. He stopped at the door, turned around and said, "Thanks, Professor."

"You are most welcome, Mr. Lupin, now off to lunch." He did as he was bid.

* * *

The day of his first full moon at Hogwarts started out ordinarily enough. He awoke, bathed, dressed and breakfasted. He attended class in the morning and early afternoon. Once out of class and the four boys were left to their own devices, Remus began to get concerned. The other three were making plans for goofing off that evening instead of doing their Potions homework.

"I want to take you on with Exploding Snap again," Sirius complained when James said something about staying out watching the giant squid on the lake. "I'm going to figure out how Peter wins all the time." Peter grinned wickedly.

"Well, I-I can't be there," Remus mumbled. 

"What? Why?" James stared at Remus, puzzled.

Sirius dug his elbow into Remus' ribs. "Not even twelve years old and he's got a hot date," he sniggered.

Remus blushed at the thought. "I do not," he protested.

"You aren't going to _study_ , are you?" Peter gasped in dismay, as if Remus were deranged.

"I have to go home," Remus explained, averting his eyes, unable to lie to his friends' faces. "My mum, she's sick. I'm supposed to visit." He swallowed, noting the lack of noise from his friends. "Supposed to help her feel better."

It was James who spoke. "Is it bad?" he whispered, leaning forward so that no eavesdroppers could hear. Remus couldn't say anything so he nodded.

"Don't particularly care for my mum," Sirius said, "but we understand, Remus. Go on, be with your mother."

"You'll be back tomorrow, won't you?" Peter asked anxiously.

'They believed me,' Remus thought to himself, feeling worse than ever. "Yes, I'll be back tomorrow morning. I might be late for breakfast though." The three of them nodded their understanding. Knowing he had to say it for his own protection, Remus leaned into their little circle and whispered, "Don't tell anyone, okay? We don't want a lot of people to know...she's embarrassed, ashamed, and well...the less discomfort the better, the healer says."

"Sure, Remus, we won't tell. If anyone asks, we just won't say anything." Sirius smiled reassuringly as he spoke.

Remus' relief must have shown because James patted him consolingly on the back. "We're friends, Remus, we stick together."

James couldn't have said anything that could have made Remus feel worse than he already did.


	6. Chapter Six

Promptly at seven, as the sun's bottom teetered on the horizon, Remus bid temporary farewell to his friends and set off for the infirmary. The school nurse, a matronly woman named Madam Pomfrey, checked his health and handed him an infirmary robe.

"What's this for?" he asked, holding up the plain white robe.

"I will tell you in a few moments, if you please," she said consolingly. "We are ready, Professor." 

Dumbledore had just stepped into the infirmary and his blue eyes sparkled behind his half moon glasses. "Ready, Remus?" he asked solicitiously.

Remus hesitantly held up his robe. "I guess so, Professor." 

"Excellent! Poppy," he turned to address the nurse, "would you accompany us please? From now on, you shall accompany Mr. Lupin, unless you have reservations?"

"I see no problem with it at all, Professor Dumbledore," Madam Pomfrey said, smiling benignly at Remus. Remus gave them both a weak smile. 

"Follow me, then, please," Dumbledore told them with a small wave of his hand. The trio quietly slipped from the hospital wing, down several long corridors, into the front hall and out the front door. Some distance down the lake's length, Dumbledore came to a huge willow tree. Hagrid, who'd met the train at the start of term and Remus knew was the groundskeeper, was standing nearby the tree.

"You have perhaps met Hagrid already, Remus?" Dumbledore inquired. 

"We met, sir, only briefly when I brought in the firs' years," Hagrid said gruffly, but he was smiling behind his beard, Remus could tell. "Hullo." Hagrid made an awkward wave.

"Hi," Remus said with a weak smile.

"Hagrid is aware of the situation as well, Remus. He is in charge of keeping track of what goes on in the Forbidden Forest," Dumbledore explained. "He is very knowledgable about various creatures. I have asked Hagrid's help in case our precautions go awry. He is responsible for making sure you do not harm anyone should our plans fail." Dumbledore's blue eyes turned piercing. "Is this acceptable?"

Remus thought a moment and then shrugged. "It's acceptable, but it's not like I have much choice in the matter, is there?"

Dumbledore gave a brief smile. "No, none of us do. The purpose of this entire exercise is safety for all, including you, Remus. Now," he pointed to the tree, "this is the Weeping Willow tree. Please taking note of its ferocity, Remus, for this is very important." Hagrid tossed a few pebbles at the tree and it began failing and thrashing about. A few shrubs had not been moved from the tree's reach, undoubtedly whoever planted it thought the tree couldn't reach them, and they were quickly beaten of all their foliage.

Remus swallowed, shrinking away. "How do I get past it?" he asked nervously.

"Like this," Hagrid said and using a long stick in his hand, he poked a small knot at the bottom of the tree's trunk and it froze. The branches no longer thrashed and it merely looked like an ordinary willow tree. "It also opens up a tunnel that will reach the shack where yer suppos'd ta stay."

"Indeed. Inside the tunnel, you will change garments, that way, you will have untorn robes in the morning and you won't have to worry about not having clothing while you creep through the tunnel," Dumbledore continued.

Remus nodded dumbly.

"Now, just inside the tunnel entrance is a small hole with a trunk within for you to store your things. You can leave them and collect them as you come and go. There is a bed and furniture within the shack for you to use. I have also taken the liberty of leaving a small snack as well," Dumbledore went on to explain. 

"When morning comes, Mr. Lupin," Madam Pomfrey told him, "I shall meet you outside the tree and we will see to any injuries you may have." Remus nodded again. "Now keep in mind you will be exhausted the first few times, due to lack of sleep, but that can't be helped. You'll just have to adjust. No sleeping in the following morning anymore." 

Remus grimaced.

"Now in you go, Remus," encouraged the headmaster. "Hagrid will remain out here for a few hours and I shall go into town to see how things go from there. I want to make sure that nothing untoward happens this time before I allow you and Madam Pomfrey to go it alone from now on."

"Thank you, all of you," Remus said gratefully.

"In you go," nodded Dumbledore and Remus did as he was told.

He approached the tree cautiously but when it didn't make a single movement, even in the slight breeze, he relaxed a bit. Remus entered the tunnel and turned around to stare at the three adults as the tunnel's opening began to close. He had the presence of mind to mutter "Lumos", allowing his wand tip to illuminate the darkness around him before the entrance closed completely.

Quickly, feeling the moon's grip tugging on him, he disrobed and shoved his robes, shoes, socks and underwear into the trunk that was exactly where Dumbledore said it would be. He was loathe to part with his wand and, after deciding he needed it to light his way, he kept it in hand as he crept along. 

The tunnel was slightly rocky beneath his feet but not uncomfortable to walk upon. The walls and ceiling were similarly rocky. It took less time than he imagined to reach the shack and he climbed the stairs slowly, curiously looking around him. It was a two-storied shack, with all the proper furniture a deserted home might still have: a ramshackle table and chairs, some equally rickety book shelves and even a rundown-looking sofa. 

He climbed the stairs to the second story and approached the first door. Inside was a broken down bed with surprisingly clean sheets and a blanket upon it. A small table at the bed's side looked as unstable as the furniture downstairs. The same applied to the furnishings in the second bedroom. 

One thing Remus noted was that all of the windows were boarded up. No light entered through any cracks. He walked the length of the room downstairs and saw something that resembled a kitchen and a back door. As he walked back through the shack, it began. The last thing Remus remembered thinking as a human being was that he hoped the door at the front of the shack was as boarded up as the windows.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore took his bottle of butterbeer outside The Hog's Head Inn and began walking slowly about town as he waited for the sun to set and the moon to begin its nightly journey. As the silvery orb crested the horizon, Dumbledore noted that it was a huge one, seeming to swallow the dark sky. As it broke over the trees of the Dark Forest the screaming began.

Dumbledore choked on a swallow of butterbeer. It had been a long time since he'd heard the anguished and agonized screams of a werewolf in transformation. A swell of pity and sorrow pierced his heart as he tried to imagine the quiet, young boy turning into a large, four-footed wolf, snarling and uncontrollable. It was almost unimaginable.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Dumbledore took a look around the townsfolk on the streets of Hogsmeade. Everyone was looking toward the shack, staring in bewilderment. The shack had always been there, but only recently had it been reboarded closed. Dumbledore had also taken the liberty of magically strengthening its foundations and framework, just in case.

As the screams continued to rent the air, people began to talk, trying to identify the sound. Sensing that he hadn't thought of the townsfolks' curiosity and chiding himself for it, Dumbledore stopped a couple of the men who were walking toward the shack to investigate. 

"Its just the ghosts, gentlemen," he explained with a laugh.

"Ghosts?" one of them said. "There ain't never been ghosts in there before, Headmaster!"

"Certainly there have! I thought Headmaster Dippet had gotten rid of them a long time ago, but I guess he did not. It seems he merely temporarily banished them." Dumbledore gave a considering frown. "Took him sometime you know, even as clever as he was. Then again, it might be a fluke. If it becomes a bothersome thing, let me know and I'll work on the problem."

The other man looked puzzled. "Certainly, sir, but it's very odd, isn't it?"

Dumbledore laughed easily. "Very odd, I do agree, but let it alone. They never left the shack and merely just made a lot of noise every once in a while." He pointed upward. "Full moon brings out the worst in ghosts. You should see Peeves, the school poltergeist. It's all I and the Bloody Baron can do to keep him out of horrible mischief some full moons."

The few people around him laughed, no doubt remembering the pranks Peeves the Poltergeist had played when they too had attended Hogwarts. "Just mind his water bombs, Professor!" someone shouted and there were a few more hoots of laughter.

A few moments later, Dumbledore stood outside the shack, giving the impression he was investigating the noise. This was partly true but he was actually investigating how the shack was holding up. Inside he could barely hear anything now and what he could hear was disheartening. Tearing and snarling noises were coming from upstairs. Dumbledore assumed the werewolf was tearing up the beds. 

"Perhaps furniture wasn't such a good idea," he murmured. "Oh well, live and learn..."

After two hours of checking on the activity within the shack, Dumbledore decided that his precautions had been sound. While convinced that he did not need to stay, concern that a miscalculation might work in the werewolf's favor later in the evening prompted Dumbledore to sit behind the shack until the sun's rays began to push the moon away.

* * *

Remus awoke in darkness with only a few shafts of light squeaking in through the cracks in the boards over the windows. It took him a few minutes to orient himself but when he did, he looked around in horror. One of the chairs from the table downstairs was mangled and chewed on, pieces scattered about the floor. The bedsheets were what he assumed were the white tufts of material littering about the chair's remains. He'd long ago torn apart his infirmary robes, no doubt when he'd transformed.

What truly horrified him was when he glanced down and saw his own body.

He was cut, torn, scratched and mauled beyond anything he'd ever seen before. For a wild moment he thought perhaps another werewolf had been with him and he looked frantically around for someone else. He rose shakily to his feet and wandered into the other bedroom, only to discover that the bedside table was missing.

Afraid to see the condition of the downstairs and muscles screaming protest, he stumbled nude down the hall and down the stairs. He walked mechanically around the room, dazed at what his eyes told his brain they were seeing. Not a single peice of furniture was not chewed on or torn apart. The sofa seemed to have taken the bulk of the damage. In a sudden panic, Remus began to scramble around for his wand, finding it underneath one of the toppled bookshelves, unharmed and unmarked.

His hand shaking, Remus began to use the repairing charm on the furniture. He didn't know why but he did it. While he couldn't rid the furniture of the chew marks, he could put them to some semblance of what they had been before. Or try too; some of the peices were beyond anything he could do.

Sore, aching, and ashamed, Remus found the tunnel and staggered down it, wand lit once again. He carefully pulled on his robes and his shoes, not bothering with anything else, bundling the rest in a wad he clutched tightly to his chest. He waited sometime before he realized he would have to find his own way out. 

He found a small lever by the door of the tunnel and the entrance slid open. Shaking, Remus stumbled from beneath the tree's frozen limbs, collapsing on the ground after a few steps.

"Hagrid! Hurry!" exclaimed a female voice and Remus felt the gentle touch of Madam Pomfrey. "We need to move him before the tree comes to life again." He felt himself being lifted and carried a distance from the tree and set down again. Madam Pomfrey's face swam into view. "Are you all right, dear?" she asked worriedly.

"I - hurt," he murmured, turning his face away in shame. At home, in his father's basement laboratory, he and his father took special precautions. He was chained at each limb with magically cushioned shackles, making it almost impossible for him to move before or after the shift. Even as strong as a werewolf could become, such strength had limits of what it could break. Never once had Remus been free of the shackles that protected himself and his father, so he'd never experienced what he'd gone through last night.

"It's all right," soothed Madam Pomfrey, frowning as she pulled his robes up to examine his injuries. He went beet red when he realized he'd not put on his underwear, but in true medical fashion, Madam Pomfrey was unconcerned by his lack of clothing. "Some ointment will take care of that. Obviously you and your father take other precautions that has stopped you from hurting yourself during transformation before this. Unfortunately, we have not, so it's just something we'll have to work around."

"I'll have the headmaster think of something else, Remus," said Hagrid, keeping his distance for the sake of Remus' modesty.

"No!" Remus said, struggling to sit up despite Pomfrey's attempts to keep him still. "I have to get used to it. There won't always be precautions when I'm grown up."

"Wise words, Mr. Lupin, wise words indeed." Dumbledore appeared in the small clearing, looking tired. "However, if you ever feel we need to find another way..."

"No." Remus looked defiant. "I have to get back to the school. My friends will wonder why I'm not at breakfast."

Dumbledore looked at Remus long and hard for several moments and then gave one, small nod. "If you are certain?" Remus nodded again. "Here is a change of clothes for today. Something we overlooked last night, but will remember from now on." The headmaster smiled. "Allow me to teach you a charm that will immediately clean you up as neatly as any shower and toiletry. Abluo!" 

With a wave of his wand and the spoken word, Remus looked as fresh as if he'd just bathed, dressed, and brushed his teeth like any other morning.

"Now off to breakfast with you, Mr. Lupin, and remember, your mother was most pleased to see you." 

Remus smiled weakly and limped away, his staggering gait the only sign visible that something had transpired beyond visiting a sick parent. No, Dumbledore amended to himself, there was another sign, deep within the haunted brown depths of Remus' eyes.


	7. Chapter Seven

Remus knew immediately that James knew something was wrong. Maybe it was the limp he tried so hard to disguise. Maybe it was the flinch he made when Peter accidentally bumped into him on the stairs going to class. Maybe it was the careful way he moved his arms when reaching for the cauldron in potions. Whatever it was, James was suspicious of Remus' trip home. Peter hadn't noticed and Sirius was seemingly oblivious, being a slightly self-centered individual. Remus thought he might have been able to brazen out James' suspicions until Sirius brought up Remus' condition oh-so-casually at lunch.

"So did you fall down the stairs, run into a door, or trip on the rug?" asked Sirius, pouring Remus another cup of iced pumpkin juice.

"What?" asked Remus, giving Sirius a perplexed look, his mind on his potions notes.

"The excuse for what happened at home?" Sirius prompted as if he'd had this conversation many times before. "I've seen it lots of times, I know the signs. Your parents, they a bit strict, are they?"

Peter, James and Remus all three blanched when they caught on to what Sirius was alluding. "My father has never raised a hand to me!" Remus exclaimed indignantly. 

Sirius set his fork down and stared at Remus. "Mom, then huh?"

"My mother never laid a hand on me before -" Remus was about to retort that his mother never would have either before her death but he caught himself just in time. "No, she would never!" he amended.

Sirius continued to stare at him long and hard. "Brothers? Sisters? Uncles? Aunts? Someone did, Remus, you walk like it, you act like it and I can see it in your eyes. Someone hurt you last night."

Never in a million years would Remus have thought something like this would occur. He doubted Dumbledore would have either. He swallowed nervously, his mind racing to figure out something to say. "I'm just tired, Sirius, and sore. I ran errands for my dad and mum all night last night. It's the only break Papa's had since I left." Even to his own ears he sounded unconvincing.

"Where'd you get that scratch, then?" asked Sirius, pointing to Remus' exposed wrist, where a large scratch raced up his arm. Remus slapped a hand too late over his wrist to hide the offending mark. "Or the bruise on the back of your neck? Your voice is hoarse, like you've been screaming. Come on, I've seen it a million times, Remus. Who's doing it?"

Remus could feel the pressure bearing down, the fear of them discovering what was going on. Fear and anger pressed in on him and just as he was opening his mouth to snarl at the other boy, James stepped in. "Drop it, Sirius, okay. He said it wasn't anyone. Leave it alone. Remus, breathe. We just want to help you, okay? You're our friend. Nobody mauls our friend without paying the consequences."

"Its. Nothing." Remus' teeth were clenched in anger. He struggled to keep his temper but he couldn't. Rather than do something that would reveal an above average strength from an intemperate rage, Remus rose from the table and stomped from the room.

Peter was right behind him. "Remus! Don't go! We won't say anything -"

"Leave me alone!" he shouted, turning on the smaller, chubbier boy. Peter cringed and shrank away. Remus stormed off again, locking himself in the Gryffindor dormitory for the rest of the day, skipping classes and missing the evening meal. Fear ate at him as it never had before.

What if they found out the truth?

* * *

It was a startled Gryffindor Common Room when the portrait door swung open and Albus Dumbledore stepped through. He looked around with a bemused expression. "Amazing how little things change," he said to no one in particular. His light blue eyes alighted on Remus and he smiled slightly. "Mr. Lupin, may I speak with you in private for a few moments?"

Remus had crept out from beneath his covers earlier in the evening at James' urging, Peter's pleading and Sirius' apologies. He'd been half-heartedly been playing Exploding Snap, purposefully letting Sirius win while James coached. Now, summoned by the Headmaster himself, Remus could feel the entire common room's occupants staring at him as if he were some strange being that didn't belong.

"Yes-sir," he said haltingly, getting up from his chair and walking on unsteady legs toward the older man.

"You're not in trouble, so don't look so shaky," reassured Dumbledore with a laughing gaze. He bid Remus to exit first with a beckoning hand and Remus stepped through the portrait hole with a nervous backward glance at his friends. All three were staring at him in wide-eyed concern. Dumbledore stepped through after him and the portrait of the Pink Lady swung shut.

Silently, Remus followed Dumbledore down the long corridor and into an empty classroom, where Dumbledore again motioned Remus in first, and charmed the door with a wave of his wand. "There," he said with a knowing smile, "no eavesdroppers to hear our conversation." 

Remus swallowed nervously, wondering if he was going to get into trouble for missing class that afternoon. Deciding to explain before Dumbledore tore into him, Remus began to babble, "I'm sorry I missed classes this afternoon, Headmaster, but my friends shook me up. They thought that I'd been -"

"Abused. Yes, they brought their concerns to me right after you left the Great Hall at lunch," Dumbledore interrupted. "I assured them that I would check into the matter immediately. We shall have to have a care with you if you're going to accumulate friends who are so keen-eyed, Mr. Lupin."

Remus blinked, stunned.

Dumbledore smiled at Remus' expression. "Do not be angry with them. If only so many other children who _are_ abused have such friends with the courage to question and report such possibilities. There might be less of children growing old before their time in this world. However," Dumbledore raised a hand to forestall Remus making a comment, which he certainly was about to do, "I do remind you that skipping class, no matter the reason, is frowned upon. I will let it slide, and gladly, this once, but you must strengthen your resolve, Remus. This will not be easy, this secret that you keep, for any of us. I, Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall and Hagrid can only help you so far. You must do the rest, I cannot stress it enough."

Remus nodded, his gaze sliding to the floor. Dumbledore raised Remus' chin with an index finger and his blue eyes were warm with kindness.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, Remus, nothing at all. You are a clever boy with much to recommend. That the hat placed you in Gryffindor proves that you are more than just clever or brilliant. You are brave and willing to face a great danger not only to yourself but also to others for the sake of something you want. Many would call this foolishness; others would call it courage. Whatever it is, you have it. Embrace it. Make it work in your favor, not against you."

Remus' brown eyes widened and he nodded once as if mesmerized.

"If, and this is a big if, Remus, if we succeed in this experiment, think of the door that we can open for other werewolves. How many like yourself are denied a single opportunity that could give them the life they otherwise would not have in our society? If you cannot think selfishly, then think of that and keep your wits about you." Dumbledore smiled a teasing smile. "You may be in Gryffindor but you come from Ravenclaw stock. Some of that keen intellect is there, so use it to your advantage."

"Yes, Professor," breathed Remus. He thought quickly, his mind rapid-fire going through ideas, discarding them one after another. "May I ask," he hesitated and then took the plunge. "I'll need to learn magic that's not in class, to help my, um, masquerade. Probably advanced magic? How-?"

Remus' question stumbled to a stop when Dumbledore handed him a note. He glanced down at it and read:

 

_Madam Pince,_

_Remus Lupin has my express permission to gain access to books within the Restricted Section for a special project that he is undertaking under my personal instruction. Please allow him access to the Restricted Section during normal library hours and during the holidays._

_Albus Dumbledore_

 

"I believe that should answer your question?" Dumbledore sounded amused.

Remus was bemused. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"I suggest you start tomorrow then and be ready with at least two charms to help your physical problems following transformation by next month?" The headmaster uncharmed the door and swung it open. "Off you go then, and don't forget that you should be due for a potions quiz soon."

Remus stared at the purple ink of his special permission slip for a moment more and then grinned. "Yes, sir!" His voice was definitely more upbeat and Dumbledore couldn't help but laugh. 

"Go on, then, young Lupin," he encouraged and Remus darted out the door and down the hall.

"Higgledy piggledy, open it up!" Remus demanded at the portrait.

As she swung open, the Pink Lady snapped, "And you're welcome!"

The common room studiously ignored him openly, while surreptitiously watching him from behind books or with veiled looks. Remus practically skipped to his three friends, who had the same wide-eyed expressions as when he left with Dumbledore.

"All better then?" asked Peter timidly.

"Much," said Remus decisively. James and Sirius exchanged looks and shrugged when it was obvious Remus wasn't going to clarify. The game of Exploding Snap continued. Remus defeated both Peter, Sirius and James soundly the rest of the night.


	8. Chapter Eight

The second month came and went without a hitch. The spells Remus had learned poring through various books Madam Pince grudgingly helped him find within the Restricted Section hid any marks or clues that something had gone wrong with him "next trip home". The other three boys watched Remus like hawks for any sign of abuse the following days after the full moon but he showed not a one. Gradually it was forgotten on the surface but not deep within. Remus knew that his friends would protect him no matter what.

Their friendship was now a deep bond, almost psychic. Each knew when one of the others was either in trouble, getting ready to be in trouble or looking for trouble. Or anything else for that matter. They were receptive to each others' moods. It was becoming uncanny and slightly disconcerting, especially for Remus. It also became apparent that they were going to be the hellions of the school, especially Sirius.

Sirius had always been a bit standoffish, a bit rebellious. James had always put it down to being a "poor little rich boy" thing. Peter spent a lot of his time hero-worshipping James, mimicking everything he did. Remus was alternately amused or worried by his pure blood friend's behavior, not sure whether to join in or stop him. Either way, Sirius was definitely good for entertainment value if nothing else.

James was rapidly becoming the leader of their little group. It was James that organized their study sessions. It was James that instigated their little forays against Snape and his own little band of Slytherins. It was James that led them all over the campus, with other three trailing behind. It was James that managed to get them detention for throwing Filibuster Fireworks at Peeves the Poltergeist one late October afternoon.

It had been fun while it lasted and it was easy enough with half the school cheering them on. Remus had felt a little guilty about it but he also felt Peeves had it coming for all the torment he gave the students. He'd found a charm that hampered the ghostly ability to fade through walls and move at increased speeds while digging around in the Restricted Section. That, coupled with Sirius' diabolical need to avenge himself on Peeves for a prior incident concerning a large bucket of ice water and a trick staircase, was more than enough incentive for the four of them to tackle Peeves immediately after History of Magic.

Too bad Professor McGonagall was less amused than the rest of the school. She ordered the four of them to report to Hagrid for detention that evening at sundown. Remus was thankful it wasn't a full moon. Sirius was ecstatic it might mean a trip into the Forbidden Forest. James and Peter thought Sirius was nuts. Remus refrained from comment on both points.

Immediately after dinner, the four of them drudged to Hagrid's hut, where the huge man was sitting outside, fiddling with his giant crossbow. "So you boys are helping me tonight, are ya?" asked the groundskeeper almost jovially.

"Yes," said James with very little enthusiasm. Sirius was craning his neck around Hagrid's large form to stare at the forest beyond.

"Well, don' worry. We aren't goin' inta the forest. Just doin' a bit of guard duty is all. The sheep in the pen on the other side of the castle have been gettin' attacked. We jus' need to sit back and see if we can catch what it is." Hagrid didn't seem too concerned about what it might be.

Peter nervously shifted from foot to foot. "It wouldn't be a werewolf, would it?" he asked tremulously and Remus blanched when Hagrid gave him a quick look.

"Nah, never happens on a full moon." Remus relaxed slightly.

"Bugbear?" suggested James.

"Nah, wrong smell in the air for one of them. Besides, bugbears usually go after something smaller than a sheep, like chickens." Hagrid slung the quiver over his back and nodded to them. "Well, let's be off then. I'll only be keepin' ya until about midnight and usually its attacked and gone by then. I may need your help putting the sheep in the pen, though."

Sirius was horrified and intrigued at the same time. "You mean, herd them? Like shepherds?"

James sniggered. "That's how they get there, Sirius."

"I've never -" exclaimed Sirius, temporarily lapsing into his upper class upbringing, aghast that he'd have to do such a menial task.

"Ya are now, so get a move on!" snapped Hagrid but all four boys could see his beard twitch, as if he were trying not to laugh.

Remus sidled next to his friend. "You're not some rich man's son here, Sirius, don't forget."

"I know, I know, I forgot." Sirius was still looking a bit uncertain but he squared his shoulders and followed James and Hagrid. After a few steps he seemed eager again and began to badger the giant man about various creatures he'd seen in the forest.

The five of them had gotten around to the sheep pen and just beyond, on a ridge overlooking the pen, was a whole hillside full of sheep. Hagrid led them up the slope and broke them into two groups. "I'll take James and Sirius and we'll go over here and start pushing them toward the pen. Remus and Peter, get the gate open and keep any strays from getting too far away as we herd 'em to ya." Hagrid stumped off with Sirius and James trailing behind, muttering, "Gotta ask the headmaster fer a dog."

Peter pulled open the huge paddock gate and Remus stood back a bit as the sheep started to slowly make their way toward them. It happened in only a few quick moments. Neither Peter nor Remus registered anything was happening until it was almost too late. As the sheep began to pour into the pen, a blur streaked from the edge of the forest. Remus vaguely heard Peter's cry of alarm; his wolf instincts had immediately gone on alert.

The blur leaped toward the sheep nearest to the forest's edge and, without thinking Remus ran toward it. It was only a brief moment where beast and boy's eyes met but the animal gave a tremendous snarl and turned to race back into the forest. As it disappeared into the darkness of the trees, Remus sped by the hapless sheep that had almost been the beast's dinner. The sheep bleated in terror and charged toward the pen. This started a small stampede of sheep, each one catching the primal fear of its neighbor and seeking refuge.

The refuge that was pen where Peter was standing right in the gate.

The pounding of the earth shook Remus from his instinctual need to chase the fleeing predator. He could vaguely hear over the increasing noise of hooves pounding the ground Hagrid, James and Sirius screaming at them. He turned and his jaw dropped. One sheep had started several sheep running to the fence. Following the pattern of all herd animals, the entire flock caught the scent of fear and was heading for safety, for the pen.

Peter and Remus' eyes met for a second before Peter turned and ran for the other end of the paddock. Unable to do more himself other than to dodge away from panicked sheep, Remus held his breath until he saw Peter scrambling up on the fence on the other end of the pen and then over it to safety. Within minutes, the sheep were in their enclosure, still frightened but safe.

"What 'appened?" demanded Hagrid hoarsely when he and the other two boys got to them. Peter had come around the fence to join Remus. The two boys were panting, eyes wide with disbelief, staring at the white, brown and black fluffy beasts.

"Whatever was after the sheep came back!" Peter began to babble. "Ran right for a sheep near Remus! Thought it was going for Remus for a second there!"

"Yer al'right then?" asked Hagrid gruffly, turning Remus this way and that, searching for injuries.

"I'm fine. I didn't recognize it, Hagrid, but it was -" Remus snapped his jaw closed. Once again he'd been about to say something that would make his friends suspicious of him.

"It was what, Remus?" demanded James. The others merely stared at him.

"Brown. Big and brown," Remus finished lamely.

"Big and brown," frowned Hagrid. "Could be anything then. Two legs? Four legs? See any teeth? Any claws? Long fur or short fur?" Remus shrugged helplessly, caught between a rock and a hard place. "Well, think on it and let me know if you remember anything," sighed Hagrid in disappointment. 

"Yessir," mumbled Remus, staring at the ground. He could feel James, Peter and Sirius' perplexed looks on him but couldn't meet their gaze.

"You boys had best get back up to the school. If Professor McGonagall asks, you did your detention." Hagrid waved them away absent-mindedly. "Stay away from the forest as much as you can." He was staring into the trees where the creature had come and Remus, following Hagrid's gaze, swore he could see the beast staring back at them. The nerves on the back of his neck tingled and unknowingly Remus growled deep in his throat.

Hagrid's gaze jerked to Remus in surprise and Remus belatedly realized what he'd done when he heard Peter's gasp. He was thankful that no one mentioned it, though, but James' eyes bored into him the whole way back to the castle and to the Gryffindor common rooms.

* * *

Despite James, Sirius and Peter's non-stop chatter about the beast in the forest from the night before, Remus managed to get through the day without having a nervous breakdown. James never said a thing to Remus regarding his strange behavior but Remus could sense his friend's pensive mood toward him all the same. By the time the evening meal came around, Remus had lost what little appetite he'd had to begin with and, pleading a headache, went to bed early.

Staring up at the ceiling of his four-poster bed, Remus tried to calm himself. 'James knows nothing, I just think he's suspicious,' Remus assured himself. 'James probably thinks I'm just a bit wierd is all, he couldn't possibly know I'm a werewolf.' Over and over, Remus tried to reassure himself, and almost had himself convinced until he heard the door to their room open.

"Remus?" It was James. The panic swelled up inside him again. "You asleep?"

"No." Remus' voice croaked out into the darkness.

He made out the outline of James' form as the other boy walked to Remus' bedside and sat down. "Can I turn on a light?"

"No."

"Okay." James settled himself on the bed a bit more and stared out from his position, not looking at Remus at all. "You going to tell me what's going on? I promise, I won't tell anyone."

"Nothing's going on, James," Remus insisted immediately. "Why can't you guys just leave it alone?"

"Because something _is_ going on, Remus," James responded calmly. "We're not going to judge you. We want to help you but you have to trust us."

"I do trust you," Remus ground out, irritated. "Why don't you believe me when I say everything is fine?"

James held up a hand and began to tick off points as he made them. "You disappear each month to visit your parents. The first time you come back all bruised and scratched up. You never get owls from your mother, always your dad."

"She's sick, James!" Remus protested.

"I know," James agreed amiably and continued. "That beast took one look at you and ran back into the forest. You growled when you looked into the forest. It's almost like -" James' voice broke off and he whirled on Remus, who shrank back into the bed in terror.

"Like what, James?" Remus whispered.

James stared at him a bit more and then suddenly began to laugh. "Nothing, Remus, nothing. I was being stupid." He fell back onto the bed, gasping for air. "I'm starting to get Sirius' imagination is all. He's starting to rub off on me."

"Like what, James?" Remus' voice was a bit stronger this time.

James turned his head to look at Remus in the darkness. "Like you're werewolf or something, but I mean, come on! That's ridiculous! If you're a werewolf, I'm the Minister of Magic!" James laughed uproariously, and in sudden bout of teasing, jumped up and began to run around Remus' bed, snarling like he thought a werewolf would do. "Better watch it, Remus, or I'm gonna sneak over one night and pierce your ears with silver studs. Or how about if I watch the lunar charts and see if you vanish every full moon?" James began to laugh again, not noticing that Remus wasn't laughing with him.

The very idea of James doing any of these things was enough to send Remus into a full-fledged panic. "That's not funny!" he shouted over James' laughter. James stopped laughing.

"What?"

"I said that's not funny, James."

James was suddenly concerned. "Hey, is that it? You think we all think you're a werewolf? Don't be silly, Remus! We think nothing of the sort!" James snickered. "Now come on. We grabbed some bread and roast to make you a sandwich. You've gotta be starving." He slapped Remus' leg under the covers and walked to the door, turning around, expecting Remus to get out of bed.

"I'm not hungry, James, please just let me get to sleep." Remus turned his back to his friend and the door, his worst fears confirmed in what he saw as James' rejection and prejudice against werewolves. His friends could never, ever find out the truth. He'd lose them if they did.

"Well, okay." James sounded concerned again. "See you in the morning."

"Yeah," Remus said dully. "In the morning."


	9. Chapter Nine

It was all Remus could do to keep his distance from his three friends. They constantly bothered him with questions about his eating habits, his mother's health, why he didn't hang around with them anymore, and other similar things. James asked once if he'd ruined their friendship the night of their talk, but Remus assured him that nothing had changed, he was just shaken up by the creature in the forest.

In truth, Remus didn't know what to do. He couldn't act normal, or at least he didn't think so. The full moon was the following weekend and he was dreading it. He kept himself in the library, spending time between spellbooks and magical creature books to discover what he had sensed that night with the sheep.

When the night of the full moon came, a Saturday evening, Remus gathered what he needed and slipped from the common room. This time it was Sirius that trailed after him. "Can I walk with you to where ever you need to go, Remus?" he asked amiably.

"Um, just to the front hall," Remus murmured.

"All right," Sirius agreed. They got to the staircase in silence before Sirius spoke again. "Did we offend you?"

"No."

"Did we say something that made you not like us anymore?"

"No."

"Are you ill?"

Remus paused before answering. "Not really."

"Then what's up?" Sirius stared up as one of the staircases above them moved. "I'll never get used to that."

"Nothing's up." 

"Why are you lying?"

Remus froze, his hand on the ballistrade. "I'm not lying!"

"Sure you are," Sirius told him congenially, as if it were a normal thing. "As a chronic liar, I know the symptoms. I fib to my parents all the time, but I get away with it because they don't care. We care, so you aren't getting away with it."

Remus sighed, not sure what else to say. "I'm starting to get offended by the fact that you guys won't leave whatever suspicions you have alone. You're harassing me and it's uncomfortable!"

Sirius' blue eyes watched Remus closely. "Really." He sounded unconvinced. "Well, maybe I'm not the foremost authority on friendship and reading people, Remus, but you're hiding something, something you're ashamed of. It's pushing you away from your friends. If you want to keep your friends, you're gonna have to learn to trust them. My regards to your family." 

Remus' jaw dropped as Sirius turned and climbed back up the stairs and out of sight. He couldn't move; his knees buckled and he sat down hard on the stairs, staring into nothingness. He didn't know how long he sat there but it was the worried voice of Madam Pomfrey that roused him.

"Mr. Lupin! You're going to be late!" 

Remus jumped to his feet and dashed down the stairs. With Madam Pomfrey right behind him, he ran all the way to the Weeping Willow. He jabbed at the knot on the trunk, noting with a slight panic the darkness around them. He sighed with some relief as he ducked within and the opening closed behind him. He changed his robes in the dark and raced down the tunnel. The shift began just as his feet touched the staircase in the shack.

* * *

He was angry, an ungovernable rage controlling him. He couldn't leave this dark building and hunt. Tearing up the objects within only gave a small measure of comfort before the urge for blooded violence took hold, causing him to howl in frustration. Sniffing near the door for a possible weakness, the beast froze. A strange scent wafted to him, slight because of the thin access to the outside world.

It was a stench, a familiar stench, though why that would be the wolf did not know. He did know what it represented, another predator, possibly an equal in ability, and it was right outside. The wolf growled warningly and received an answering growl in return. A few measured, deep-throated barks were replied with a higher pitched cry. 

In a frenzy of rage, the wolf threw his entire bulk at the door, causing it to shudder on its hinges. Scratching on the other side only further served to madden the werewolf but no matter how many times he hit the door, it held firm. The encroacher of his territory could not be reached.

This was not acceptable.

Upstairs and downstairs the wolf ran, trying windows, walls, and digging at the floorboards while the beast outside taunted him. An hour later, following a beserk fit of unbridled instinctive rage, the werewolf finally collapsed into an exhausted heap. He didn't move. His breathing was shallow. 

When dawn broke and the wolf turned to boy once again, the condition did not change.

* * *

Remus awoke to gray sunlight filtering into the school infirmary, allowing him to see tiny dust motes floating lazily in the air. He struggled to a sitting position and looked around in confused manner. The actions of the night before were hazy to say the least; they usually were, but he remembered something.

"Madam Pomfrey?" he called hoarsely, grimacing at the rough sound of his voice. The shifting must have been especially painful last night, if his voice was any indication. He must have screamed a lot.

"Ah, Mr. Lupin. You awaken." It was not Madam Pomfrey, but Professor Dumbledore that walked into the long room, filled with several hospital beds. "We were most concerned when you did not emerge this morning."

"Something was outside the shack, sir," Remus began to babble immediately. "I remember it."

Dumbledore looked at him with consideration before nodding. "You remember this before the shift?"

"No..." Remus trailed off, realizing what this meant. "I remembered," he glanced around then lowered his voice, "as a wolf."

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose. "Is this usual for you?" Remus shook his head. "I see. And what exactly do you remember?"

"Another creature outside, it was trying to get to me." He gave a start as an idea hit him. "Could it be what was attacking the sheep?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Doubtful, my boy. Hagrid has quite decided it was merely an overly large and aggressive bugbear. He killed such a one two days ago. Perhaps one of the village dogs smelled you."

"Maybe." Remus wasn't entirely sure. "Am I okay, then? Was I injured?"

Dumbledore smiled comfortingly. "When you didn't emerge at daybreak, Madam Pomfrey grew concerned. She and Hagrid entered to see what had happened. You were unconcious near the door. From its condition, and yours I might add, it looked as if you had tried to get out. Thankfully, all our precautions have worked."

"Thankfully," echoed Remus.

"Madam Pomfrey said that as soon as you woke up, you were free to leave." Dumbledore smiled when Remus struggled from beneath the covers.

"Sir, can I talk to you for a moment?" asked Remus shyly as he shrugged into his robes.

"You are doing so now," pointed out the older wizard with a twinkle and a smile, "but proceed."

"My friends suspect something is wrong with me. I've tried to tell them nothing is wrong, but they accuse me of lying." Remus looked at the floor, unable to meet the headmaster's gaze. "I'm running out of things to say. They are concerned that something's wrong but they won't believe anything I say. I guess I'm not a very good storyteller."

"I see." Dumbledore's tone was neutral.

"James Potter guessed what I am but then he laughed and said it was ridiculous." Remus finally looked up to see Dumbledore watching him complacently. "I don't know what to say or do anymore, sir. Can you offer advice?"

"You act guilty, therefore they think you _are_ guilty," Dumbledore finally said after a long pause. "Act as if nothing is wrong. Do not be so jumpy, or assume they suspect anything even when it is obvious they do. It merely confirms their suspicions. Do not avoid them as you have been. Make a point to be with them and then perhaps they'll accept all of this as an eccentricity." Blue eyes twinkled at him. "That's what I do."

Remus stared in shock. "You mean, you're a -" He couldn't finish the sentence.

Dumbledore began to chuckle. "No, dear boy, I act as if nothing is different about me, when everyone knows I'm just a bit odd. It's fun, you see, to make people think your oddness, your eccentric behavior is just part of you. Keeps them guessing what you'll do next!"

Remus blinked and then slowly smiled. "I see. You mean, you act so..." He blushed. "Silly sometimes because you like to watch people's reactions?"

"On the nose, Mr. Lupin, now off you go." Dumbledore waved him from the bed and down the length of the room. "I believe you have a chapter to read for History of Magic?"


	10. Chapter Ten

Dumbledore's advice, strange though it may have been, worked, to Remus' amazement. After a while, James, Peter and Sirius took note of Remus' renewed vigor for hanging out and shrugged on his previous behavior as something uniquely Remus. It was soon forgotten. Remus reported that his mother's health was still the same and that he would continue his 'trips home' every month for the rest of the year, with his friends none the wiser to the truth.

As far as anyone could tell the attacks on the sheep had stopped with Hagrid's dispatching of the overly large bugbear. Something in Remus, though, refused to believe it had been a bugbear. He continued researching what he remembered of the creature but after awhile, when the attacks never continued, he lost interest, finding other things to do with his friends.

Quidditch had begun in October and the boys spent their time cheering on the Gryffindor team, booing the Slytherins, and in general, getting into typical mischief. The class assignments kept them busy up to Christmas and it was with a thankful heart that found Remus heading home for a quiet holiday with his father.

Phineas Lupin was standing at the platform at Kings Cross Station, leaning over the rail like a child, waving frantically. Remus grew excited at seeing his father and he wasn't even bothered by the fact that both James and Sirius (both of whom were going home for the holiday as well) were looking around for his conspicuously absent mother. Eagerly, Remus introduced Sirius to his father before the two Lupins headed back through the barrier into Muggle London.

"So, everything is going well?" The elder Lupin beamed a smile at his son as they made their way through the holiday crowds to the street.

Remus pasted on a smile. "I suppose, but I want to talk about everything when we get home. Can we just..." He lapsed into silence, unsure what to say.

Phineas winked at his son. "I understand. Good to not have to put on a show. Relax, my boy, we'll be home before you know it."

And they were.

Through the fireplace at The Leaky Cauldron the Lupins were transported to their own parlor fireplace, where Teffie already had hot chocolate and scones waiting for them. The house elf waited by the parlor door, eagerly shifting her weight from one foot and to the other. As soon as Remus cleared the fireplace, the small being threw herself at him, sobbing "Master Remus!" loudly.

Remus hugged her in return, glad to see a friendly face that he could be comfortable with. Always a member of the family, Teffie seemed more than a house elf or a servant to Remus. She'd been his only friend when he was younger. While Teffie fussed over him, Remus kept smiling at his father. He noticed that his father's eyes were a bit sadder and his skin a bit paler.

"Teffie, go put Remus' things in his room and get started on dinner. Let's make tonight special," suggested Phineas gently, and eager to please, Teffie disappeared to do as she was bid. Father sat down next to son on the old divan and leaned over to snatch a scone from the plate. He poured two mugs of hot chocolate and nibbled for a moment before speaking. 

"It's good to have you home."

Giving in to the urge, Remus scooted over a bit and put his head on his father's shoulder. "It's good to be home," he murmured back.

Phineas frowned down at his son, surprised at the unusual show of affection. "Aren't things well at school?"

Remus began to talk, haltingly at first, uncertain what exactly to tell his father. As the tale of his months at school progressed his father heard everything: the arguments with his friends, their suspicions about something wrong, the lies he was having to tell and how uncomfortable he was about them, the beast in the forest, and the werewolf's sense of it not being gone at all. It all just poured out, as if a purge. Once finished, Remus lapsed into silence, munching on his own scones and drinking his luke warm drink.

"Remus," his father said finally, setting down his mug on the small table in front of them and staring off into space, "I can't tell you how to live your life anymore. Yes, you're still my son, and a minor in the eyes of the law, but you've been an adult pretty much your entire short life. Because of what you are, because of what you became, you are more responsible, more mature and more learned than any child your age. You have to be, I understand that, and it hurts me that you are. It hurts me, son, that you have no childhood now to enjoy remembering later on in your years. It hurts me to think that you won't live a long wizard life, that it will be cut short by the very alternate nature within you. It pains me more than you'll ever know, Remus." Phineas turned to Remus and his eyes were dark. "I can offer advice, son, that you may or may not take. That is entirely up to you. However, I will say this: your friends are going to be your lifeline. If you truly believe they are your friends, that they will stand by you as friends should and not jeopardize your happiness, then tell them the truth. I know it will be hard, but that is what I advise."

Remus stared at his father in shock. Never would he have imagined his father telling him this. Both his father and mother had turned to their friends for support after he'd been bit. All those friends had turned away, leaving the Lupin family to deal with the problem alone. It was one of the reasons Remus understood Adelia Lupin had died; she'd been lonely, bewildered and broken-hearted. Phineas had told fewer friends, but had the same results as his wife. After losing their friends, Phineas had placed a facade up when he went to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. Remus never knew if those 'friends' had ever told anyone but he suspected that they had not. The Lupin family was still well-thought of, so Remus' secret was safe.

The two of them sat in silence again and very shortly after Teffie happily announced dinner. Remus sat through his father's forced conversation about his progress on the potion he wanted to make for curing lycanthropy, but he paid little attention to it. His father's advice buzzed in his mind, not letting him alone. Should he tell James, Peter and Sirius? Would they still be his friends if they knew the truth? Remus was conflicted and confused.

"Dessert, Remus?" asked Phineas, noting that his son had said very little during dinner. Remus shook his head. "I expect you're tired. Go to bed and we'll devise some things to do in the morning."

Remus nodded and went upstairs to his room, sitting on the bed and staring at the woodland scenes that played out on the mural on the walls. His mother had painted the mural before she'd died. It was all he had of her. Remus realized he couldn't remember her face anymore. He stood up to go downstairs to find some pictures of her when he realized the house was silent. Teffie and his father had already gone to bed. It was late, he should too.

He couldn't. His feet wandered downstairs and into the library. Remus looked around but there were no family photos. He frowned. Had there ever been photos? He couldn't recall. Leaving the library, Remus wandered in and out of the rooms, coming up empty each time. He knew there had once been photos in the parlor, but they were gone now.

Disturbed, Remus resolved to ask his father about the mystery in the morning and went back to his room. Dawn was breaking over the horizon when Remus finally fell asleep.

* * *

Teffie looked at him in puzzlement. "Pictures, Master Remus?" she squeaked.

"Of Mum and Dad," Remus repeated. "Or just Mum. Surely there are some somewhere?" Teffie shook her head. "I don't believe it. They had to have had pictures taken at their wedding!" he exclaimed.

"You'll have to talk to Master Phineas," Teffie informed him and went back to her dusting.

Remus frowned at the house elf for a moment. She kept giving him covert glances and when it was obvious she wouldn't be intimidated in giving any information on the small mystery, Remus gave up and went to search for his father. A confrontation like this wasn't the way Remus had wanted to start his break, but the missing pictures had nagged at him all morning. He'd never taken notice of the lack of memorabilia of the Lupin family before. His father would think it odd that he did now.

Straightening his shoulders, Remus headed downstairs to his father's laboratory in the basement. The bubbling cauldrons and the floating objects in jars and containers gave the place an eerie atmosphere but the 'mad scientist' look was completed by the gadgets shooting sparks in the corner and his father dressed in a white lab robe and black dragonhide gloves.

"Ah Remus!" His father motioned him over. "I got sidetracked the other day with my latest potion for you when I discovered it could do this." 

Phineas dipped a small beaker into a particularly disgusting looking solution and poured a bit of the beaker's content on a plant. The plant shriveled and died instantly but half a heartbeat later it not only grew back but produced small berries. Near as Remus could remember the plant had never produced anything but leaves. Never any berries. 

"Amazing, isn't it? Near as I can figure, it rejuvenates the roots but has to kill the old plant before regrowing it again." His father shook his head in wonderment. "The things you do by accident. I've contacted the Herbological Conservatory to see if they want to test it out for further study. They seem very interested." The Lupin fortune, such as it was, was sporadically added to by Phineas Lupin's occasionally successful experiments.

"That's great, Papa, but can I talk to you?" Remus hated it when his father didn't pay full attention to him, as was evidenced by his father's absent-minded "umhmm". "Is there a reason there are no family pictures around the house?"

The beaker crashed to the floor and Phineas whirled on his son. "I beg your pardon?" he barked tensely.

Remus flinched and took a step back. He'd never seen his father angry at him before. "I went downstairs last night looking for pictures of Mum," he explained nervously while his father continued to stare at him. 

"Why?" snapped the elder Lupin, leaning against the lab table with one hand. He looked shaken.

"I've forgotten what she looked like and wanted to remember," Remus confessed shamefacedly.

Phineas stared at him for a long tense moment before sighing. "Damn," he muttered. "I'd hoped...ah hell."

"You'd hoped what, Papa?" asked Remus.

"Upstairs. Let me clean this up and I'll meet you upstairs. It's time we had a long talk, Remus. You aren't going to like what I have to say. I'd hoped it wouldn't ever come up but -" Phineas didn't finish the sentence and instead pushed his son up the stairs, closing the door firmly behind the boy.

Remus waited impatiently for his father to emerge from the basement. When he did he was more somber than Remus had ever seen him to be. Phineas walked into the parlor and motioned for his son to sit down. Remus sat on the love seat and was disconcerted when his father sat in an old winged-back chair.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, Remus," Phineas began. "You deserve the truth and, Merlin knows, I've been keeping it from you long enough. She can be damned."

"Who can -" Remus stopped his question when his father motioned him to silence.

"When you were bitten, Remus, we were terrified. Not of what you'd become but whether or not you'd survive. We'd already lost one child and the bites you'd sustained were enough to kill you as well. Adelia was unable to have anymore children and she'd doted on you so much." Phineas took a deep breath and removed his gaze from his son's inquisitive face. "Your mother is not dead, Remus."

Remus sucked in air, certain he'd not understood his father. "W-what?"

"She left us, left the wizarding world completely actually. That's why her friends never talk to me or you, why she's rarely mentioned unless it's as if she's dead. Everyone was scandalized. We, well, we fought, Remus, often and usually in public. Month by month she grew more and more afraid of you. I thought she was being ridiculous. I still do. As long as we took the very precautions you and I have taken, there was no reason why we still couldn't be a family."

Remus stared dumbly at his father, not wanting to hear what he was hearing but unable to stop himself from listening.

"When she left, I told her that I would tell you she was ill, dying. She told me she didn't care. She couldn't live a lie like this anymore. I told her good riddance, God help me I did, Remus. I was so angry with her, Remus, so hurt that she would just leave her husband and son when they needed her most. It was like she didn't care anymore." Phineas pushed his hands through his graying brown hair. "I tried to make it easy for you, make you think that she'd died. I wanted to protect you from the truth, Remus. I didn't want you to think that she didn't love you -"

Remus exploded. "Obviously," he said scathingly, "she didn't love me!"

Phineas looked at his son, noting the anguish in his eyes. "That's not true. She did, does, love you, Remus. I get owls from her every month, right after the full moon, asking how you are, if everything is still all right. I just don't think she can bear the guilt."

"The guilt of leaving us?" snapped Remus.

"No, the guilt of letting you get bit," Phineas said calmly. Remus' mouth dropped open in shock. "You see, I wasn't there when you wandered off. I was in London at an alchemy conference. Your mother went into the house to tell Teffie something and you'd wandered off before she'd returned. She was frantic when neither she nor Teffie could find you. She enlisted the neighbors and sent me an owl. By the time I got here they'd found you and were bringing you into the house, all bloody and torn. Adelia was a screaming, hysterical mess." 

Phineas' eyes were far away, reliving the horrible moments of the past. 

"She kept telling me she'd killed our son, our only son. She kept asking me why I wasn't angry at her for being such a horrible mother. When it was revealed that you'd been ravaged by a werewolf, it was much more the worse. Her father had been killed by a werewolf, you see, and she couldn't bear the thought that you might be one."

Phineas look over to see his son's stony countenance staring back at him. No emotion flickered in the amber eyes and no twitch of any muscle in his body indicated Remus heard anything Phineas was saying. Unable to do more, Phineas continued to talk.

"Adelia tried, Remus, really she did. She and Teffie took turns staying up with you. It was Adelia that kept pushing me to find a cure. I wasn't allowed to help take care of you, my work in the basement was more important. Merlin help me, Remus, I let her boss me into it. I thought it might ease her mind, make her feel less guilty. Nothing helped. She never showed it to you, Teffie said, but in my presence alone she berated herself, blamed herself, hated herself. She was angry at me for not being angry with her. She wanted someone to hate her more than she hated herself. She was so afraid, Remus, so afraid and I didn't know what to do but reassure her that it wasn't as bad as it seemed, that we were still a family and that you and I still loved her." Phineas shrugged. "Finally, it didn't matter anymore. The guilt, the pressure she and her friends placed on her was more than she could bear. She left. Told her friends what she was doing and ignored them when they told her just to leave us and continue living in our world. They blamed me for not trying to keep her in our world. I was so angry at her myself, so tired of listening to her tirades that the first few months were a relief of blessed silence."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Phineas' eyes begged Remus to understand. "I couldn't, Remus. How do you tell an eight year old boy that his mother left him because she blamed herself for what happened to him? I didn't want to see the heartbreak in your eyes, knowing that you, deep down, would blame yourself for your mother leaving. Because it's not true, Remus, she left us because she's weak, not because we're horrible or to blame for anything."

"I see."

"Do you?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"How many people know the truth of Mum's leaving?"

Phineas shrugged. "Many of her friends went along with my pretence of her death. Made it easier for them, I'm sure."

"I mean at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall told me that she was friends with Mum." Remus' voice was without inflection and Phineas couldn't help but flinch at the emotionless tone.

"I couldn't say. Knowing Dumbledore's means for knowing everything, he more than likely knows."

The two of them sat in silence for almost ten minutes. Teffie interrupted the somber atmosphere by coming in with a tea tray with a pot of tea, three cups and a huge plate of lemon scones. "Masters?" the little house elf inquired timidly.

"Yes, Teffie?" sighed Phineas when his son made no motion toward the offered tea.

"I has something for you both." The house elf drew two small envelopes from the inside of her care-worn, terry cloth towel gown and handed one to each of them. "They is from the mistress. She told Teffie to give them to you if Master Remus ever wanted to know the truth."

Both Lupins cautiously opened the envelopes to discover a single photo and a note. Each note read the same: I love you and I'm sorry. The photo was of her, standing on a dock, the sea air blowing her dark brown hair about. Phineas' eyes filled with tears and he looked over at Remus to gauge his reaction.

"Mum was beautiful, wasn't she, Papa?" Remus said in a low voice.

"Was?"

"She's dead, right? For all intents and purposes?"

"I suppose."

"I'll have to think up a new lie, then. I'll tell everyone at school she died over break. I'll have to think up a new lie to tell them about every full moon."

Phineas closed his eyes in pain. "Yes, you'll have to think of something else."

"I'm going to my room." Remus stood up and left. 

Teffie looked at Phineas. "Master isn't angry with Teffie?" she asked fearfully.

"Why would I be, Teffie?" asked Phineas mildly. "You're the best friend this pitiful wizard has." He briefly hugged the startled house elf. "This is going to be hard for him, Teffie. We're going to have to be stronger than ever."

"Yes, Master Phineas," agreed Teffie, but she didn't look anymore confident than Phineas felt.


	11. Chapter Eleven

"So how's your mum?" asked James on the train ride back. Both he and Sirius had noted Remus' brooding silence and James was finally compelled to inquire.

"Dead."

It took both James and Sirius a moment to process Remus' answer, it was so abrupt and unexpected.

"Gods, Remus, we're sorry!" exclaimed Sirius in horror. He awkwardly patted Remus' shoulder in a bid to offer comfort.

"At least her pain is over," James said in a low, sympathetic tone.

"Yes." The two friends looked startled at the cold bite of Remus' tone.

"Are you going to be all right, Remus?" asked Sirius cautiously.

"Eventually." The other two boys winced at the icy tone and subsided their questions. Obviously Remus wasn't in the mood to discuss his loss and neither of them felt inclined to add to Remus' burden. They instead talked quietly to each other about their own break and tried not to disturb their friend any more than necessary.

Snape made a brief appearance to harass them but Remus gave him such a snarling set down that the Slytherin boy literally scurried down the train's corridor. Sirius and James both stayed as far from Remus' sharp tongue as possible after that, not certain that they wouldn't be on the receiving end of Remus' extremely bad temper.

Back at Hogwarts, classes continued and Remus informed Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore that a new lie would have to be invented, as he was no longer willing to use his mother's illness as an excuse for his monthly disappearances. Dumbledore agreed that trips home for the duration of the school year would be acceptable due to the family's grief. Remus was relieved that no one questioned his decision, whether they were teacher or student.

January closed into February and soon enough the second month of the new year drew to its own close. Remus still couldn't shake the depression from his mind. He couldn't help but wonder if his mother would have remained with them if Remus hadn't wandered off like he'd been told not to those years ago. Guilt pressed down on him and turned into depression.

In a bid to try to feel again, Remus began suggesting pranks. It seemed the only time he felt the burden lift from him was when he, Peter, James and Sirius were up to something. James had persuaded the flying coach, Professor Wingate, to allow him and Sirius to teach Peter and Remus better flying techniques. James loved to fly and adored Quidditch. He was looking forward to trying out for the house team in his second year. Eager to practice and have someone to practice with, James had taken it upon himself to coach both Remus and Sirius. Peter, while he enjoyed just flying, wasn't eager to be on the Quidditch pitch and instead was in charge of keeping the balls in play or being the Keeper.

His friends seemed to note Remus' desperate bid for activity and eagerly kept it coming. Sirius especially took great delight in finding things for the group to do. The more mischievous the better, was his motto.

Remus usually didn't care what the activity was, just so long as it took his mind off other matters. However, one incident in the first week of March brought everything from the prior term to head. A popular new past time among students during the less frigid afternoons from class was the Whomping Willow tree. More specifically, a peculiar game of tag. 

The idea was to see who could try and touch the tree without getting hit by the flailing branches. Many students tried but none succeeded. Remus would occasionally worry that someone would accidentally bump the knot on the trunk but no one ever got close enough to do so. It was dangerous, but that was part of the appeal. Three students were exceptionally good at getting very close: James Potter, Severus Snape, and Davey Gudgeon.

The competition between the three of them was fierce. Gudgeon was a third year and Seeker for the Ravenclaw team. He was as quick on his feet as he was in the air. He and James ribbed each other good-naturedly, but Snape took the competition very seriously. That afternoon, Gudgeon was cheering on James as he and Snape dodged the Willow's maniacally waving arms, having already tried earlier and received a glancing blow on his arm, thus disqualifying him.

Remus, Sirius and Peter too cheered on their friend, but James found himself 'out' when he jumped over one low waving branch only to get hit in the side and thrown a short distance away in mid-air. He sat up after landing, laughing at his misfortune. Snape had won that round and gloated with two of his Slytherin cronies, Walden MacNair and Maban Wilkes. 

"Nice form, Potter!" chortled Snape, nudging Wilkes in the rib. "Next time go for distance."

For once, James didn't get riled at Snape's harassment and instead joined sheepishly in the laughter. Remus followed Sirius and Peter to James' side and offered his friend a hand. James allowed himself to be helped to his feet, brushing off his pants and shirt afterward. The four of them were getting ready to head back to the castle when the hair on the back of Remus' neck prickled.

He turned sharply toward the trees of the forest just beyond, his senses alert. Sirius noticed Remus' redirected attention immediately and turned to look in the same direction. "What the hell?" he gasp and the other two boys immediately followed suit.

Something watchws them from just beyond the trees. Large eyes stared unblinkingly at the group, seemingly unconcerned that there were so many. It seemed to Remus that whatever it was was stalking the group. Unthinking, Remus stepped out of the circle of safety and into the trees. 

"Remus," hissed James in horror. "What are you doing?"

"Making it go away," Remus said calmly, confidently. He and the beast stared at each for a long moment before the eyes in the shrubbery disappeared. There wasn't even a rustle of leaves or a snap of a twig but Remus knew the creature had left the area.

The three other boys looked at him in shock. No one else had noticed, being occupied with new players in the game of Tag the Willow. Laughter and cheering had drowned out any possibility of anyone eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Are you nuts?" fretted Peter. "You could have been attacked, Remus!"

"No, it won't get to me unless I'm -" Remus frowned and turned back. "Yes, only then."

Sirius' expression turned speculative. "Only when, Remus?"

"Nothing." Remus made up his mind. "Come on, I want to go to the library."

"The library?" echoed the other three in confused unison. "Whatever for?" continued James, perplexed.

Sirius followed Remus' train of thought, however. "To look up what we saw, right, Remus?"

Remus nodded, heading toward the castle. "I don't think Hagrid found the creature that attacked the sheep. I had the same creepy feeling this time that I did that night." Peter audibly gulped and James frowned.

"So, that's why you've been digging through the Restricted Section?"

"No." Remus shook his head. "I'm actually working on something for Dumbledore and my father," he fabricated, though admittedly it was a roundabout lie and sort of the truth. "It's just an added bonus that we have access to the Restricted Section to hunt for information about whatever is in the Forest."

"Shouldn't we tell Hagrid or someone instead?" offered Peter in a sensible tone.

"I did," Remus confessed. "Dumbledore told me it was my imagination, that Hagrid had found an unusually large bugbear that was undoubtedly the culprit. I wasn't sure then and I'm very sure it wasn't a bugbear now."

The four of them descended upon the library, snatching every book on magical creatures they could find. Remus raided the Restricted Section, much to Madam Pince's disgust, and brought out several old tomes on predatorial creatures. Page after page they pored over the books. Dusk settled over the library and Madam Pince began shooing students out of the library. Remus checked out several books as did James and they continued their looking in the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey, lookit this!" Sirius turned the book he'd been half-heartedly flipping through to where the other boys could see.

James pulled the book more to where he could read the small article outloud. 

"The Beast of Gévaudan. Though so named because of attacks in the tiny district of Gévaudan in south central France, the Beast of Gévaudan has been spotted throughout history in various geographical areas, mostly Europe. The reports, both magical and Muggle, have been scarce and mysterious, many times attributed to werewolves, despite the fact that attacks by these dog-like creatures occur on nights other than a full moon. Eyewitness accounts, again both Wizard and Muggle, state that the canine-like animal is roughly from the size of a large wolf to the size of a cow. What these beasts are and where they come from is pure speculation and no specimens, dead or alive, have been found to support these witnesses."

The four of them stared at the drawing accompanying the small article and Remus suddenly knew that they had discovered the monster in the forest. "That's it," he whispered.

"It's a legend," Sirius pointed out skeptically. "Most of the eyewitnesses to this have been dead for 200 years no doubt."

"What Muggles consider cryptozoology, Sirius, wizards know are real animals, magic animals," argued James.

"Well, yeah, but even wizards, according to this book, aren't even sure if this thing is real or not," Sirius argued back.

"Easy way to find out," Peter interrupted. "Find out more about this beast thing."

"Easier said than done, Peter," James sighed, leaning back in his chair.

Remus continued to stare at the old drawing. "Maybe," he conceded. "Maybe not."

Sirius looked at Remus, intrigued by the tone in his friend's voice. "You have a plan, then?"

"The beginnings of one, maybe."

"You're both mad," muttered Peter in disgust, closing the book with a creak of the old leather binding. "We should just tell the headmaster and be done with it."

James, however, had caught the same scent for adventure that Sirius and Remus had. "Without proof?" he challenged. "On a gut feeling? They'd tell us we're barmy and send us back to class."

Peter only shook his head, unwilling or unable to argue the case further.

"What's your plan, Remus?" asked Sirius eagerly.

"Let me think it through a bit more and I'll let you know," he informed his three compatriots. "It might be a while though. I want it perfect so that we aren't in too much danger."

"But you won't object to too much trouble," grumbled Peter half-heartedly. 

Sirius clapped Peter on the back. "Ah, Peter, don't worry. We'll serve detention with you!"

Peter looked less than thrilled at the prospect. "Detention is what got us into this mess in the first place," he protested as Sirius began to steer him toward their community bedchamber. Their arguing voices faded as they went up the stairs.

James and Remus sat in silence for a long while, Remus pointedly ignoring the speculative look James was giving him. After several moments of long silence James gave a huffing sigh and stood up. "You know, Remus, you have to be one of the strangest bloke I've ever come across." He smiled lopsidedly when Remus looked up at him in surprise. "But that's okay, I like you anyway. Let us know when you've got your plan worked out, eh?"

And he too went up the stairs, leaving Remus to ponder exactly how he could work around getting his friends and himself into the Dark Forest to confront whatever was in there without exposing his own secret.

* * *

Remus waited impatiently for the tunnel entrance to the Whomping Willow to close behind him and immediately began to change his clothing as per his normal, full moon routine. He went down the tunnel and into the shack to anxiously await the moon's rise. It was ludicrous, really, he thought to himself. Normally he wished the moon would never rise on evenings like this but tonight he actually _wanted_ it to happen. He was hoping that the Beast, as he and his friends had started calling it, would make its presence known to Remus' werewolf form once again.

It was a vain hope.

Remus awoke the next morning with no lingering sense of something that had alarmed his wolf self as he had before. He was not exhausted as if his wolf self had not tried to tear the shack down getting to something outside. It was disheartening but Remus reasoned that he couldn't get lucky when he wanted; it was something that required Fate to intervene. 

April's full moon proved to be more providential for Remus' plan. If the werewolf had a watch and could read it, he would have noticed that at four that morning the Beast finally decided to come sniffing around the shack again. Growling at the intruder to his territory the werewolf knew he could do nothing more than pace and occasionally scratch and slam against the door or wall to make his presence known. The Beast seemed unconcerned this time with his presence, sensing that the werewolf was no threat to it in his self-imposed cage. 

Once the sun had risen over the horizon and Remus groggily awoke, he felt satisfaction when the sense of something disturbing his animal senses had occured that evening. It took him several minutes to realize that the disturbing sense was still evident, as was a low growling on the other side of the shack's doorway. There was a quick flurry of scratching and whining and then the sound of feet padding away in a leisurely manner.

The Beast is getting bold, Remus thought with satisfaction. "Well, so am I," he muttered to himself outloud.


	12. Chapter Twelve

"Okay, I have to say if History of Magic gets any more boring, I'm going to be a ghost just like Binns," complained Sirius at lunch. He grabbed a handful of potato crisps and munched on them disgustedly. "I mean, no wonder he died! It was from boredom! Can he make goblin rebellions any more dull?"

"You want him to try?" James snorted. "I don't."

Peter looked glum at the thought. "Can you imagine when he starts talking about the Giant Wars?" Everyone shuddered at the idea of Professor Binns, the ghostly history teacher, droning on in monotone about giants and their warrior ways.

The conversation remained on Binns' lack of oration technique, growing ludicrous when Remus and James began mimicking Binns as they left the Great Hall. "And in 1434, Gelfin the Gargantuan took out Gimling Gate and Gordon Guardhouse merely by releasing pent-up pockets of natural gas from his extraneous end." The boys burst into laughter as James droned.

"In 1267," began Remus but Sirius suddenly shoved him and Peter behind a column as Dumbledore and an unknown wizard stepped into view from the staircase.

"I will, of course, check into it immediately, Dagnor," the headmaster was saying in a reassuring tone.

"We wouldn't pay that much mind, Headmaster," the man named Dagnor was saying worriedly, "but for those scratches on the outside of the Shack. Definitely not ghost-like if you take my meaning. Looks like some dog scratching to get into it, but why? It fair to makes my nerves jangle to think on it."

"No one has been harmed in the village though?" Dumbledore pressed. "At all?"

"Not a hair, sir, not a hair on anyone's head," Dagnor revealed, "but with wierd shrieking and screaming coming from the shack of a sudden this year and them scratchings, surely its only a matter of time? Oh and we've come up missing sheep and chickens again like we did earlier in the year. That's the truth, it is."

"I shall be down tomorrow to take a look then." Dumbledore sounded concerned but not unduly so.

"Well, I can tell you that the only thing strange we've seen in town was around dawn this morning. Large creature was on the edge of town, heading for the forest. We couldn't tell what it was but it was big."

Dumbledore ushered the man out the door with promises to do some investigating. He also informed the man that he would ask Hagrid if he'd notice anything new with the school's animals as well. The boys listened closely to every word and once Dumbledore had gone back up the stairs, they emerged with thoughtful expressions on their faces.

"A shack in the village getting scratched up like it's being dug into like a dog?" pondered Sirius.

"And their animals are being attacked just like the beginning of the year, eh?" speculated James.

Remus could have almost danced for joy at the opportunity that landed square in his lap. "We need to look at that shack," he suggested. 

"Are you mad?" gasped Peter in horror. "How are we going to do that?"

"I don't know," Remus admitted, "but we have to look at those scratches. Maybe we can find a clue that will prove our suspicions!"

Peter continued to stare at Remus in shock. "Why don't we just tell the Headmaster what we suspect, then?" he pointed out.

Flummoxed, Remus turned to Sirius and James for help. James frowned at the door where Dagnor had exited the castle while Sirius glared at Peter. 

"You think Dumbledore's going to believe a bunch of first years who tell him that they think the thing in the forest is some creature that is more rumor and superstition, especially when they don't have any proof? Are _you_ mad?" Sirius demanded almost petulantly. This time it was Peter who had no comeback. Remus mentally blessed Sirius' devious mind.

"Let's go back up to the common room," James murmured. "We need to plan."

"Plan?" drawled a voice to their right. All four of them whirled around to find Snape, MacNair and Wilkes lined up right outside the Great Hall doorway. "Planning to find a way to make Pettigrew intelligent are you?" MacNair and Wilkes guffawed.

"Yeah," tacked on Wilkes in a sly tone. "After that pathetic attempt in Transfiguration this week, he needs something to help him along." Peter flushed in humiliation. His oak twig had more resembled a mangled dog bone than a ink pen.

"I know a special brew that will give you a mental boost, Pettigrew," sneered Snape, earning another chuckle from his companions.

"But Severus, I don't think that works with half-Squibs!" corrected MacNair. "He'd be better off with a transplant. Maybe the Whomping Willow's brain will be a nice substitute?"

"Snape, shove off and take your lapdogs with you," snapped James. He had a hand on Sirius' elbow, keeping the taller boy from lunging.

"He can't, James," sneered Sirius hotly. "He forgot their leashes. They aren't smart enough to have passed obedience classes."

The laughter stopped and the two groups faced off. "You'll pay for that," Wilkes growled in a low tone. He paused and then smiled at Snape and MacNair. "You _Blood Traitor_."

Remus, James and Peter gasped, Sirius turned a mottled red and gave Wilkes a good shove. "What did you call me?" he hissed angrily.

"Sirius," bleated Peter nervously when Snape's hand twitched toward his wand.

"You're deaf as well as dumb, Black," Snape retorted. "It figures."

"That's it!" Sirius lunged for Snape's throat but Remus blocked the way. 

"Take it back, you three," Remus snarled.

"Or what?" Snape snapped in return. "You'll duel us or something?"

"Exactly!" Sirius challenged. "Tonight in the Astronomy Tower at midnight. We'll be there, will you? Everyone knows Slytherins are short on courage."

"I'll be there," Snape informed them with a glittery black gaze that Remus didn't like at all. "You're confusing Gryffindor stupidity with courage again, Black."

The Slytherins turned their backs and marched away, whispering to each other and throwing evil grins over their shoulders until they disappeared toward the dungeons. 

"Right where you belong, a dungeon!" shouted Sirius, still enraged.

"All right, Sirius," shushed James, looking around. "You've made enough of a scene for today, let's go." He shoved Sirius up the staircase, Remus and Peter right behind. James continued pushing Sirius forward around a corner and right into Dumbledore.

"Headmaster!" stumbled Sirius. "Excuse me. James was shoving me."

"Quite all right, Mr. Black, quite all right. In fact, I was looking for Mr. Lupin. May I borrow him a few moments?" Remus met Dumbledore's eyes and wondered what was going on. He'd forgotten about the overheard conversation in the hallway but was forcefully reminded of it when he saw the serious gaze the headmaster was giving him.

"Is something wrong with my dad?" Remus asked to cover up his nervousness.

"I just need to speak with you alone," was all the older wizard would say. Remus nodded, waved good-bye to his friends and accompanied Dumbledore to an empty classroom. Dumbledore magically sound proofed the room as soon as the door closed. "I must ask you a very serious question, Remus, but I do not want you to take offense."

"Certainly, Headmaster," Remus managed to say without stuttering.

"Are you certain you have not managed to escape the shack during your stays there, Remus?" Dumbledore sat down in a chair and invited Remus to do the same. Remus sat gingerly down but remained perched on the very edge of the seat.

"I'm sure, Headmaster. I mean, I'd have attacked someone or something right? Or woken up somewhere besides the shack?" Remus swallowed.

"I suppose you're right." Dumbledore mulled over something in silence for a moment before speaking again. "You mentioned last term that you sensed another creature on the other side of the door. Have you done so again?"

Remus looked the headmaster right in the eye as he answered, "I'm not certain." It wasn't really a lie, he thought to himself but after Dumbledore nodded his agreement and let Remus leave the room. He felt a twinge of guilt because it wasn't the full truth either.

* * *

The evening passed with the four boys poring over books of charms and hexes to get ready for the coming duel. As James reasonably pointed out, Snape was more well-armed with hexes than the four Gryffindors put together so they'd have to be imaginative if Sirius was going to get a leg up on Snape.

"He belongs more in my family than _I_ do and he's welcome to them!" groused Sirius as he paused in hexing the pet rat of George Kelly, a second year Gryffindor who had generously donated the animal for the cause. Peter kept comforting the animal after each spell with a pat on the head and giving it pitiful looks.

"He's just a pretentious git, Sirius, don't let him get to you" Remus said, calmly catching the rat as it soared through the air following Sirius muttering at it. He handed the rat back to Peter, who began immediate hex-removal on the animal.

"Besides," James added reluctantly, "he is powerful, even for a first year. Very smart and knows a lot. You forget, I know his family quite well. His mum's real clever too but one of these witches who relies more on her husband." James' face darkened. "Snape's dad though..."

"Yeah yeah, he's clever and all that, but we're the good guys, right?" Sirius insisted. "We're the ones who got wronged."

Peter nodded. "Yeah, they're the ones that called Sirius that name. They should pay. You guys will have to tell me about it when you get back."

James, Sirius and Remus turned to look at Peter in surprise. Sirius looked a bit hurt. "You aren't coming with us?" he demanded.

Peter shook his head, looking glum but determined. "I'll be of no use to you. I'm not very good, after all, and I'll just be in the way."

Sirius slung an arm around Peter's shoulders and hugged him briefly to his side in a chummy manner. "But I need my pals there to cheer me on, Peter! You're one of the group. Besides, I'm not just avenging my own slighted honor but yours too! They can't insult us without paying the price!"

"They didn't say anything that wasn't true," Peter said glumly.

"You're smart!" Remus snapped, jumping to his feet. "You're as smart as any of those Slytherin lunkheads! Just because you haven't found your area of specialty doesn't mean you're stupid, Peter!"

James concurred. "Besides, what would they know about anything you do? We know you know loads of stuff. You're our pal, though, so if you don't feel comfortable in going, we'll understand." He gave Remus and Sirius a stern look. "Won't we?"

Sirius looked about ready to argue but Remus jabbed him in the ribs. "I suppose so. Don't want you feeling like you're doing something that's not comfortable, Peter," Sirius finally conceded. "But that doesn't get you out of helping me find a way to trash Snape into the ground."

Peter gave the three of them an evil grin. "Of course not!" He picked up a worn book with a mangled spine. "My dad gave this to me right before I left school. It has an interesting charm that will be perfect for making Snape's large nose even larger." The four of them crowded around the book, discussing strategy and tactics.

The Common Room cleared at about eleven o'clock and the boys pretended to go up to bed as well. When snores reverberated around their room indicating that the other boys had drifted off to dreamland, Sirius, Remus, James and Peter snuck back out and down to the Common Room. Sirius looked a bit grey in the face but resolute. James and Remus too looked a bit nervous but determined. Peter was just downright morose.

"I-I'll wait here by the fire until you guys get back," stammered Peter regretfully.

"Keep your fingers crossed, Peter!" Sirius said with forced cheerfulness. Remus knew how he felt. Snape was not someone to be trifled with and it was being brought home to them right at this moment. And he was a Slytherin, which meant playing fair was probably not high on Snape's priority list.

"S-sure," Peter swallowed and waved them off as they snuck out the portrait hole. 

The Pink Lady gave a snort of surprise as she was awoken. "Where are you three off to?" she asked them suspiciously.

"Left my notes in Transfiguration," James hastily lied but it was obvious she wasn't fooled.

"You'd think that over time students could think of better lies for sneaking around after hours," she grunted in disbelief and then settled back to sleep. "Just watch out. Filch was by here about thirty minutes ago, which means he'll be heading back this way in about another twenty minutes."

Sirius muttered a thick, "Thanks," and they were off.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Getting up to the Astronomy Tower wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't taken two wrong turns and had to dodge Peeves the floor directly below the tower itself. When they walked cautiously into the room to find Snape, MacNair and Wilkes waiting on them they were prepared for a barrage of snide remarks concerning their punctuality. 

Snape merely nodded in a business-like manner at them as they approached and stated crisply, "Let's get on with this."

Sirius gave an equally stiff nod in reply and the two boys took up positions. James had walked Sirius through dueling etiquette to prepare him but it was obvious Snape more than knew what he was about. They had taken four steps when Remus heard distant footsteps. While the sound was still a bit distant, it was obviously heading up the stairs to the tower.

"Someone's coming!" he hissed. "Hide!"

There was an immediate scramble for cover behind columns and into deep alcoves. Everyone held their breath as the footsteps became clear. When Peter's anxious face appeared in the wan moonlit observatory, everyone began to breathe once more.

"Pettigrew, you idiot," MacNair began but he was interrupted by someone else. 

Someone named Argus Filch. "Well, well, out of bed after curfew, a whole lot of you. Step into the light so I can make out who you are and give you what you deserve."

Pandemonium immediately ensued. Snape muttered some spell in a whisper that tossed Filch from the exit. There was a rush for the door while an enraged Filch struggled to his feet. Remus grabbed Peter as they all ran and the four Gryffindors made a break for it. They heard Filch screech in delight, "Gotcha!" as they thundered down the staircase.

"He got one of the Slytherins," panted James in a low tone as they screeched to a halt in the corridor. "Which way?"

"That way!" pointed Remus, his hand still wrapped firmly around Peter's upper arm, guiding the other boy. He sensed that Peter was confused and terrified at their predicament. "What are you doing here, Peter?"

Peter gulped. "I thought I'd come after all. I didn't know Filch was following me, honest!"

"Excellent job," snarled a voice behind them. "Lead him right to us, Pettigrew. Next time why don't you flash a sign in the hallway so the professors can join the hunt?"

"Shut up," Sirius, James, Remus and Peter said in unison. "This way," Remus urged again and they turned right. Unfortunately it was one of those corridors that changed during the evening hours and in no time the five of them were lost.

"Brilliant," panted Snape.

"If you know the way, then leave!" Sirius said in trembling rage.

Snape sauntered by and gave a little wave. "I will. Watch out for Filch!" He disappeared around the far corner. 

"Now what?" asked Peter fearfully. "We're lost and Filch is going to be hunting us."

"Go the way Snape did but we turn left at the next corner." James frowned in concentration. "I think."

"Better than roaming around with no plan at all," Sirius informed them and took the lead. As they walked Remus was positive that someone was following them but when he'd whirl around to look, there was no one there. The feeling stayed the entire length of their walkabout the castle looking for familiar ground. Unfortunately, everything looked the same in the dark.

After a bit, Peter said suddenly, "We're in the third floor corridor! Look, there's the History of Magic classroom."

Everyone immediately relaxed. No longer lost but still on the lookout for Filch, they could quickly make their way to the Gryffindor portrait hole with little problem now. "Let's go," James said resolutely, taking point from Sirius. The group was once again on the move.

"I hear footsteps where there shouldn't be any!" came an evil voice and the boys immediately broke into a run again. Footsteps echoed behind them as well as they skidded around a corner. Sirius tripped over Peter and crashed into a statue of a hump-back witch.

"Oh God, we're done for. We need a spell that will get us upstairs!" panicked Sirius.

"What is the spell that creates steps?" asked James, panting, his eyes wide in fear. "Dissendium? No, that makes one go down -" A chuffing sound next to Sirius made all four of them jump. "A hole!"

Remus could hear Filch approaching fast and knew they had no time to debate. With a tremendous shove, he pushed James, who fell into Peter who fell into Sirius like a domino effect. Sirius toppled into the cavity created by the statue that moved. The other boys followed him, tumbling down cold stone steps. Remus jumped in behind them just as the witch began to close again. He scented Snape as the witch stopped moving. Snape had been following them.

"What is this place?" Sirius' voice echoed eerily in the darkness after several tense moments of silence as the boys listened for pursuit. 

Remus pulled out his wand at the same time James did. Their voices united in the gloom. "Lumos." The two wands immediately lit up like thin candles. 

"Wow," gasped Peter. "It's some kind of underground tunnel."

"Those stairs are pretty steep though," noted Sirius. He began walking toward the inky darkness beyond the wand light. "Let's see where it leads."

"Are you nuts?" hissed James. "Let's just figure out how to get back into the corridor and get back to the common room."

Remus, though, was with Sirius. "It heads towards Hogsmeade," he commented, noting the direction of the tunnel. "Obviously Filch knows nothing about this tunnel, James. It's not like he's going to go looking for us."

James looked ready to protest but he paused a moment to consider. "Peter?" he asked, turning to the remaining member who hadn't said anything. Like Sirius, though, Peter was staring into the darkness beyond. 

"Let's see where it goes," agreed Peter. 

James shrugged. "Okay but if we get mauled by a werewolf, it's all your guys' fault."

Everyone nodded, Remus a bit more stiffly than the other two. A bit late for me, he thought to himself, and not likely going to happen on a waning moon anyway.

They walked for what seemed like forever, stumbling over the rocky surface and commenting on the dripping water coming from the cavern-like ceiling. Finally another set of steps lead upwards and Remus took point this time. Creeping up slowly, he found a trap door. Pushing it open carefully he found himself emerging in a roomful of boxes. The sugary-sweet smell that assaulted his nose was heavenly and made his mouth water.

He leaned back down to see the three anxious faces of his friends peering up at him. "I think it's Honeyduke's!" he exclaimed in an excited loud whisper.

"Be careful!" warned James in the same tone. "The shop owners live upstairs above the store." Remus nodded and climbed into the basement storeroom. The other three boys quickly followed.

"Wow!" breathed Sirius, awestruck. "All these boxes are filled with candies?"

"Yeah," James said, warily walking around them and toward the door at the far end of the room. "Now be careful and be quiet."

"If we can get out of the shop without waking anyone up, we can check out the shack," Remus commented. 

The four of them exchanged glances, nodded and began to sneak up into the main shop area. Peter found the back door unlocked and they exited into the back alley. Darting behind several more shops they paused to plan.

"Okay," James began to strategize, "it's obvious they must be somewhere else otherwise they wouldn't have left the back door open. We have to make this investigation fast and beat the owners back here before they lock this door. The shack in question, if I remember my visits to Hogsmeade correctly, is at the far end of town. Luckily, it's a small town. We need to keep in the shadows and out of sight. We'll look around the shack and then head back here. We'll discuss what we've noticed back in the common room." James looked at each of them in turn, receiving agreeing nods from the other three. 

It took about ten minutes to get to the shack and it was easy enough. Remus swallowed hard when he saw the building that housed him every full moon. It looked like it was going to collapse at any moment. He realized that it was only Dumbledore's spells that kept the building intact to begin with, especially with a violent werewolf banging and scratching around inside.

"You'd think ghosts would find some place better to haunt than that old shack," whispered Sirius derisively.

"Ghosts aren't particular," Peter whispered back. "They haunt where ever they died or are bound. Who knows what that shack used to be."

"True," conceded Sirius.

Remus' sharp hearing picked up a familiar voice. "Get back! Dumbledore's coming!" He shrank deeper into the shadows of the trees they were hiding in just as the headmaster and two village men came around the bend in the road. James, Sirius and Peter followed Remus' lead and sank closer to the ground and hopefully further out of sight. They were close enough though to hear the conversation between the three men.

"It was huge, sniffing around the door. About scared poor Genie to death, it did. Having enough trouble with that Puffskein, don't need any more, if you know what I mean, Headmaster." The shorter and rounder of the two villagers paused for a breath. It was obvious he'd been talking nonstop for several minutes.

"I see," Dumbledore mused. He leaned forward with his illuminated wand and peered at the wooden front door. The other villager pointed out several areas on the door and the ground, but none of the boys could see what that was from their hiding place.

"There and there it's obvious that something's been digging, Dumbledore, and with more sightings of something going into or on the edge of the forest, we're frankly starting to get nervous. Whatever this creature is evades our traps and charms and spells don't seem to effect it much in staying away. That it showed up again right before dusk was unnerving. It looked like it was waiting on something."

"You said there were spooks in this old shack, Dumbledore? And you're certain they can't get out of the house?" asked Genie the Puffskein's owner sharply.

Dumbledore only nodded and began to wander around the building. As he passed close by their spot in the shadows, the light from his wand brushed them and Remus held his breath, hoping the men wouldn't look their way. They didn't and their perusal took them to the back side of the old shack. After several moments where none of the boys could hear what was being said the men continued around until they arrived back in front of the building. 

"I shall place a few more charms on the building but until we find out what this creature is, I'm afraid there is not much that I can accomplish either." The two village men looked disheartened by the comment but agreed nonetheless.

A few minutes later the three men went back around the bend in the road and out of sight. The four boys emerged from the shadows and went over to the door to see for themselves. Remus took a closer look than the other three, knowing that he was looking for a canine-like beast. The scratches looked like the scratches he made on the floor of his father's laboratory before the two of them reinforced the flooring with magically cushioned and scratch-proof tile. The ground was churned as if something had tried to dig underneath the door and Remus shuddered to think what would have happened if the beast had succeeded in the endeavor.

"Let's look in the back," suggested Sirius, already heading in that direction. James and Peter willingly followed but Remus trailed behind a bit, carefully looking along the side as he went. No other sign of scratches or trenches in the ground or wood panels were apparent. Obviously his werewolf form and the beast were going head to head every full moon at the front door. Was the scent of the other easier to be scented there perhaps? And why would the beast come back when it could smell the werewolf wasn't in residence? 

"Hey look at this!" James' voice echoed excitedly in the dark silence.

"Ssh!" shushed Peter as Remus came around the corner of the shack. James was crouched on the ground, picking at something in the shrubbery up against the shack. 

"What is it?" asked Sirius eagerly, crouching next to James and raising his lit wand for better lighting.

"I think it's fur," James whispered loudly. "How could the headmaster have missed this?"

"Maybe he doesn't think there really is a beast in the forest? Maybe he really thinks that ghosts haunt the shack?" Peter suggested, taking the fur when James handed it to him. 

Remus leaned down to inspect it as well. He surreptitiously sniffed but there was no scent that he could pick up. It had either been there for some time or his sense of smell in human form wasn't enough, even with werewolf enhanced senses, to pick it up. "It looks like its from a dog."

"Well, that creature looked like a dog, according to you and Peter," Sirius commented. "Let's take it with us. It's a clue."

"A clue?" James looked amused. "To what?"

Sirius scowled. "Isn't it obvious? We have proof now, with our eyewitness testimony and that of the village men, that there is something out there."

"And just where will we tell the headmaster where we found this?" asked James, still amused.

"Or how we knew that the villagers were seeing something as well?" Peter added.

"Easy," Remus returned in Sirius' defense. "We accidentally overheard the headmaster's conversation with the villager that visited him this afternoon and we found the fur when we saw the animal by the Whomping Willow tree in one of our games a few days ago. No problem in coming up with a story there, because it's the truth."

James seemed convinced but Peter was still uncertain, yet said nothing else. "We'd better get out of here," James told them, looking around. "We still have to sneak back into Honeydukes, get down the tunnel and figure out how to get that secret opening by the witch to work, and then get back to Gryffindor Tower."

They made their way cautiously back toward town and Remus, on impulse, turned around to stare at the shack that was his prison every full moon. He swore he saw a glint of two eyes staring at them from the brush just inside the forest a short distance from where they had been hiding from Dumbledore and his companions. 

"Look!" he hissed, pointing at the eyes but when the others turned around, the eyes had gone.

"What?" asked Peter.

"Eyes," Remus told them. "Not far from where we were hiding. I think the creature was watching us."

All four of them shuddered at the idea and continued their path to Honeydukes. They made it in right before the shop owner, hearing him opening, entering, and locking the door of the shop just as they finished going down the basement steps. They scurried behind boxes to hide in case he came downstairs but instead the owner went upstairs. Quickly, Peter opened the the trap door, which had actually been difficult to find as it blended in with the wood flooring tile. It probably accounted for the reason that no one seemed to know about the tunnel since its entrance/exit was so difficult to find in the flooring. 

They quickly made their way toward Hogwarts, muttering to themselves about ways to get back into Gryffindor Tower. 

"You realize that if any of the Slytherins get caught they're going to blab," Sirius informed them darkly.

"Maybe, maybe not," James replied with a shrug. "Either way, it's our word against theirs..."

"Unless they've got Filch standing in front of the portrait hole waiting on us." Sirius final comment was a sobering thought and kept them silent the rest of the walk to the Hogwarts end of the tunnel. It took a bit to figure out how to get the witch to open but once they'd succeeded in that, the four Gryffindors made their way to their dormitory without any problems or pursuit.

Remus decided once he'd settled into his covers that it had indeed been a grand adventure, exhilarating and exciting. An adventure he would never have had if it hadn't been for Albus Dumbledore's kindness. He fell into a fitful, guilt-ridden sleep.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Professor McGonagall caught the four boys before they entered the Great Hall. She was clearly unhappy, her lips pursed as if she'd sucked a particularly sour lemon.

"You four," she began ominously, after she'd backed them into a corner, "will be serving detention with me this evening. Though Mr. Filch did not catch you, there are enough witnesses who say you were out of bed last night to warrant detention."

"But we weren't!" protested Sirius, looking McGonagall dead in the eye. Remus was shocked at the blatant lie.

McGonagall wasn't impressed. "Nevertheless, you _will_ be serving detention. With me. At seven." Her voice was clipped. "Meet me in the Astronomy Tower. I must say that I'm very disappointed in the four of you." With that she turned on her heel and strode into the Great Hall.

The four boys looked at each other resignedly and followed. Remus expected problems from the Slytherins all day but Sirius assured them that retaliation would come later after much devious planning. Remus figured Sirius would know better than any of them about how Slytherins planned retaliation.

The day dragged by and the detention took even longer. Peter and James cleaned the many telescopes and applied oil as directed and Sirius and Remus scraped lichen off the battlements and parapets by hand. By the time they were finished, around midnight, they were exhausted.

McGonagall ushered them down the steps and to the portrait hole covering the Gryffindor entrance. The trip was done without a sound from anyone. Once there, she stopped them and made them face her. "I hope you boys will reconsider making dueling challenges in the Tower from now on?" she asked imperiously.

"We accepted," corrected James wearily but added when he saw McGonagall's glinty glare, "and no, we won't do it again."

"Learned our lesson," agreed Peter.

"Don't want to set foot in the Tower ever again," Remus added ferverently. "Well, except for classes," he hastily amended when she gave him a stern look.

She nodded briskly and the four of them trooped tiredly into the common room. It was nearly empty, only a couple of six years studying at a table in the corner, so the four of them collapsed in the chairs near the fireplace.

"I officially hate fungus," groaned Remus, rubbing his reddened hands gingerly.

"I'm allergic to the oil," lamented James. "I'll have to remember that." He sneezed for emphasis.

Peter just groaned tiredly while Sirius grimaced.

"Snape ratted us out," Sirius said after a long moment's silence.

"Filch saw us," Remus contradicted.

"No, I mean about the duel. Filch wouldn't have known about that. The Slytherins told him and I'm laying my bets on old Severus."

"Probably, but frankly, right now, I don't care." Peter hauled himself up and headed for the stairs to the sleeping chambers. "I'm going to bed."

"G'night, Peter," they mumbled at his retreating back.

"Snape and his group have to pay," groused Sirius.

"They are," James replied. "They got a week's detention with Filch. All of them got caught."

"Sounds fair to me," snickered Remus. "We only got one night with McGongall. Who knows what they'll be doing with Filch. He hates students."

"Yeah, I suppose," pouted Sirius.

"Well, mates, good night."

"Night, Remus," yawned James.

"Sweet dreams," Sirius added, his eyes still speculative.

* * *

May 1st came and went with little fuss and Remus spent the bulk of his time looking up more information on the Beast, which was very little. He was starting to get worried that the school year would end without the mystery being solved. Something about that happening was sitting wrong in his mind.

The full moon was toward the end of the month and was approaching quickly. Remus decided that he needed to bring the confrontations to a head and be prepared. He snuck out to the Weeping Willow a few evenings before the full moon and rigged some spell traps near the front door of the shack, on the inside. He also used the secret passage to Honeydukes to set up magical traps around the shack as well. Confident he'd done all he could Remus just had to wait.

It was James that threw Remus' carefully crafted plans into a tailspin. The day before the full moon none of the four said a word but the next morning, James was teeming with a plan.

"Know any good protection spells, Remus, from those books in the Restricted Section?" asked James as they ate their breakfast.

"None I haven't told you," Remus said as he chewed his toast and jam. "Why?"

"We're going Beast hunting tonight." James shared a sly grin with Sirius while Peter looked slightly alarmed.

"Too bad you'll miss it," added Sirius. "You think you can talk your dad out of the visit home this month? I mean, the year's almost up and you'll have the whole summer to spend with him."

His brain reeling, Remus stammered, "H-he's helping m-me with p-potions."

"Cheater," ribbed Peter good-naturedly. "Wish _my_ dad would help me with charms." Remus gave a wan smile, his heart beating a hard staccato.

"Well, we'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning then but at least you can help us plot." Sirius gave a cackle of evil glee but Remus avoided James' eyes. Those hazel orbs showed the speculation that Remus knew James was doing. Without a doubt, keeping the secret from James was going to be very difficult indeed.

"Perhaps we should just tell Dumbledore," hedged Remus.

"After we get proof," agreed Sirius amiably, stealing James' last sausage. James paid no mind, still staring at Remus. "Right, James?" prodded Sirius, waving the sausage in front of his friend's face.

"Yeah," James agreed absently. He had a faraway look that made Remus very nervous. James' eyes met Remus' when he said softly, "After."


	15. Chapter Fifteen

"Last one, Mr. Lupin," Madam Pomphrey said as cheerfully as she could. "At least til next year. I must say, it's been a good experience for me. I have a few ideas to work on this summer that may help you next year."

Remus managed a half-hearted smile. "Thank you." He punched the knot with a stick and ducked beneath the frozen branches into the tunnel. 

Heart pounding, he stripped quickly and ran to the shack. He began removing as many of the spells as he could but there was nothing to be done about the ones outside except to hope that his friends didn't make it to Hogsmeade or didn't set them off if they did. The change took him by surprise, so intent was Remus on the spell removal. He was in the kitchen area when the pain hit. His last thought was that he hoped tossing his wand into the fireplace was a smart thing to do.

* * *

The Beast had been ready, watching the human-wolf enter his tunnel at the tree. Normally, the human female would have been the perfect prey, alone and defenseless, but ever since meeting the human-wolf near the sheep pen, the Beast had no choice. The urge to take on the challenge was too great. Only eating to slake its hunger, the Beast was waiting for the ultimate kill, the kill that would stave off the roiling madness within. He hadn't met up with a werewolf in at least two hundred years. They were worth the hunger and waiting. Tonight had to be the night, though. The Beast just knew it.

As soon as the tunnel closed, the Beast raced to the shack where the werewolf would appear next. The Beast didn't know the whys and hows of the appearance; he just knew that's what would happen. He also didn't know why, but tonight was the night. Something was going to happen. The kill would happen. Instinct insisted upon this point.

The werewolf, on the other hand, once his mad rage was ended, actually laid down by the front door to doze fitfully, his own instincts telling him he needed the rest, that something was going to transpire. After midnight though, the wolf's ears perked up and it rose from its slumber, alert and wide awake.

Loud bursts of noise and the acrid smell of strange chemicals wafted to the wolf's nose even through the shack's reinforced walls. Cries of alarm and fright, distinctly human and young, aroused the monsterous predator within and the wolf went berserk. Charging the door, scratching, howling and gnashing his teeth, the werewolf attempted to reach his favorite prey, to no avail. The walls remained firm.

A strong, stern human voice brought the younger voices to a stop and the wolf paused in his frantic attempts to escape. He cocked his head to listen, gauging the mettle of the newcomer by the voice. Immediately, the wolf knew this was not a human to mess with, at least for now.

"What are you boys doing here?"

"Headmaster!" cried one shaky voice.

"Sir, we were just -" started another.

"We will discuss this later, tomorrow in fact, when Mr. Lupin returns. In the meantime, you three will return to the castle and take Mr. Black to Madam Pomphrey. Mr. Pettigrew, you look like you need to visit her as well...ah, Mr. Potter, you're dripping blood. Put this over the wound."

Footsteps of the older human drew near and the scent of blood was clear, the werewolf gave a low growl and scratched frenziedly at the door. The footsteps paused before resuming a few more paces despite the continuing warnings from the werewolf within.

"You don't remember me, my friend," said the older human voice soothingly, "but I won't hurt you. You're safe and sound right where you are."

"Headmaster..."

"Mr. Potter!" The voice was sharp and angry now. "The castle. Now! Before you lose more blood."

The young human's scent faded but the older human's remained.

"What ails you, my friend? What - Good Heavens!"

The werewolf froze. There. It was back. This time no wall between them was going to keep them apart.

The pounding of four feet moving rapidly, a sharp cry of pain from the human and soon the two monsters, one without and one within, attempted to reach one another. Collision after collision with the shack's spell enforced walls and windows shook it to the foundation, to no avail. Snarls, growls and howls of rage filled the air, mingling with the thuds and scratchings, making a terrible racket.

The werewolf and Beast both vaguely heard shouting from many humans and the old human shouting in return. "Back to your homes and spell-enforce your doors and windows!"

Bright lights from spells blinded the Beast, ricocheting harmlessly off his body. This was not monster against man, this battle; it was monster against monster.

The shack continued to shudder with the force of dual collisions of two great monsters, slowly moving around the forest facing side of the ramshackle building. The Beast was peripherally aware that the human followed warily, but he didn't care; his entire focus was on trying to get to the werewolf within.

Once the battle moved to the back, the Beast and werewolf paused. A sense of anticipation and suspense hung in the suddenly silent air, as palpable as any material thing. Not a leaf stirred, no heavy breathing broke the stillness to indicate when the battle would continue. Then, as if in synchronization, the two animals sprung. They collided, not with the wall but with each other.

Claws and teeth assaulted each opponent. The fight was horrific to behold. The noise was deafening. Blood from wounds splattered the ground and surrounding shrubs and trees. It wasn't a sight the lone witness was bound to ever forget.

After sometime it became apparent that the werewolf's inexperience was a disadvantage but not much of one. There was something desperate and determined about the wolf's strategy. The Beast's experience landed him many solid and wounding blows and bites, injuring his opponent far more than he was injured. The problem was that the werewolf was gaining ground. Slowly, strategically, the wolf maneuvered the Beast into the shack, the two of them swallowed by the wall that should have been as solid as the rest.

Spells blasted over the wall immediately, resealing it solid. More spells were set like traps, old magic guaranteed not to be corrupted and to dispose of any living thing that tried to exit the shack via any way but the tunnel. Heart still racing, ears peeled to the sound of monstrous battle within the shack, Albus Dumbledore found that all he could do now was listen and wait for the dawn.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The fighting ended an hour before daybreak. Continued snarling and ripping sounds could be discerned for another half an hour. As the sun broke the horizon, Dumbledore raced back to the castle.

Hagrid was awake and chopping wood. A quick explanation had the giant man reaching for his crossbow and quiver and instructions to guard the tunnel entrance. Dumbledore met Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary and together the two of them awoke Professor McGonagall. Laden with medical supplies and armed with deep knowledge of protective spells, they marched to meet Hagrid outside the Whomping Willow.

Once at the tree, the four adults planned.

"Hagrid, you will be the last line of defense. Poppy, stay with Hagrid until we call you. Minerva, wand out, be prepared to use deadly force." Heads nodded and together Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall halted the agitated branches and stepped inside the tunnel to see the outcome of the night's fighting.

* * *

He'd never felt so terrible. His head pounded so badly his ears rang. His muscles, his whole body in fact, felt so heavy he didn't know if he could even move. 

Yet there was a sense of satisfaction that was deeply primal and disturbing.

Despite the ringing in his ears, his sensitive hearing picked up soft, careful footsteps. He groaned loudly at the disturbance and the footsteps paused, only to speed up suddenly to almost a run.

"Oh my dear Heavens!" A started exclamation shot through his pained head like a bullet and he groaned again.

"My prayers were answered," sighed another voice.

"But how -?" The question wasn't finished.

"Later, Minerva. Go get Poppy."

Running steps receded as a gentle set of steps approached. He groaned in protest again. He could feel the vibrations in his muscles up through the floor and it hurt.

"Remus?"

"Pro-professor..." was all Remus could manage before his hoarse voice broke.

"It's all right, my boy." Gentle hands moved gingerly over him.

"W-wand?" croaked Remus and he painfully tossed his hand in the direction of where he thought the fireplace should be, only to have it land on something large and furry. "W-what...?"

Dumbledore shushed him. "Ssh. Don't move, be still. We'll have you fixed up again in no time at all."

Remus hoped so. He felt like he had one foot in the grave.

"Goodness gracious!" Madam Pomfrey immediately took control. "Albus, check for breaks. Hagrid, get that...thing out of the way."

"Poppy," began McGonagall.

"Minerva, conjure the steadiest stretcher you can and we'll get him off the floor. Blood everywhere! Which is his and which is that - Hagrid!"

There was a snap and ripping sound that made Remus twitch in disgust. It sounded to him like tearing flesh and breaking bones. "Yech!" complained Hagrid and nothing more was said.

"P-pain," whimpered Remus.

"Of course, my dear," soothed Madam Pomfrey. A few seconds later Remus descended into darkness.

* * *

"But he _will_ be all right?" Remus recognized his father's voice.

"Papa?" His own voice was no more than a croaky whisper.

"Remus? Oh Remus, you're awake!" Remus felt his father's gentle touch on his arm and then his face. "I never should have let you come to school."

Guilt for he'd done washed over Remus and the consequences of his plan struck home hard. "No, Papa, please!" Remus' croaking whisper was pleading. "My friends -"

"Are in a lot of trouble." Remus involuntarily winced his father's stern tone. "As are you, young man."

"I have friends, Papa. Please don't make me leave my friends," Remus tried again.

There was a long pause and then a deep sigh. "You have a lot of explaining to do, young man." Remus knew that tone. That was his father's "brook no denial" voice. One did not argue with Phineas Lupin when he used that voice.

"Yes, Papa," Remus said dutifully.

"He's awake, is he, Phineas?" Remus tried to open his eyes and for the first time realized that his eyes were bandaged. His hands, also bandaged, brushed down his body to reveal more bandaged areas.

"Yes, do you think we can remove some of these, Madam Pomfrey?" Mr. Lupin's voice sounded worried again.

"I think so. There's a few spots to leave, though, but the bulk should be healing nicely enough." Gentle hands began moving over different areas of his arms and legs and the pressure from the many bandages lessened.

Finally the wrappings over his eyes were removed and Remus was confronted with the somber faces of his father, the school nurse and the headmaster. Madam Pomfrey performed a few tests and nodded her approval of his recovery progress.

"What were you thinking, son?" Phineas asked reproachfully.

"I-I," Remus stammered, looking from one adult to the other. "I tried to tell Professor Dumbledore but -"

"Yes, you did," agreed Dumbledore amiably, "but you left out some information as well. Your spell traps were clever, ingenious actually, and you may feel fortunate that Misters Potter, Black and Pettigrew came to no serious harm." 

Remus was appropriately horrified. "They were so bent on finding proof of our suspicions before going to you. I tried to tell you that once and you didn't believe me."

"And that is the only reason I'm not expelling you, Mister Lupin," Dumbledore informed him with a frown. Remus swallowed. "You should have persisted, but I understand why you did not, at least with me. I can be intimidating sometimes, can't I?" Remus nodded weakly. "It's the reputation of being slightly odd, I imagine," Dumbledore said to no one in particular but both Madam Pomfrey and Phineas Lupin had arrested expressions on their faces, as if they wanted to say something but were fighting not too.

"I tried to get them to tell you, but they said after they had proof," Remus reiterated. 

"Yes, they collaborate your statement," agreed Dumbledore. "I must say, impressive bit of detective work, though. I never would have thought of the Beast of Gevaudan would have been hunting the grounds of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts."

"The what?" asked Madam Pomfrey.

Lupin senior sagged in his chair. "One of those. I thought they were extinct."

"So did we all, but apparently one had found its way here and was taken with our young werewolf here." Dumbledore motioned to Remus. "He began stalking the werewolf at the shack, startling the townspeople no end. They'd been losing sheep and small animals for months, but no humans had been attacked. Remus and his three friends were serving a detention with Hagrid when the Beast met up with your son, face to face. Undoubtedly, it was an old Beast, from the size of what was left of him, I'd say probably 500 years at the least."

Remus' stomach roiled. "What do you mean what was left of him?"

The adults turned to look at him. "Remus," began the headmaster, but his father interrupted.

"Remus, you killed the Beast. Took all night, according to Professor Dumbledore, and then, well, son, you ate quite a bit of him." Phineas looked apologetic at having to tell his son such news. Remus, for his part, was revolted enough to begin retching. 

In a bid to rapidly change the subject, once he was finished being sick and had a glass of water, Remus asked anxiously, "Are my friends all right?"

Dumbledore smiled, settling himself comfortably on the bed next to Remus'. "Oh yes, they're fine! Mr. Potter got thrown backward into some bushes, had some horrible looking scratches that were easily mended. Misters Black and Pettigrew were covered in boils and sores. Mr. Black was also an interesting shade of purple until right before breakfast this morning. Mr. Pettigrew was temporarily blinded and had to be helped back to the castle. They are perfectly fine now, I assure you."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling as he added, "Next time you do multiple spells in a small confined space, Mr. Lupin, I suggest that you make certain they are compatible first."

"They didn't work?" Remus didn't understand.

All three adults laughed. "Oh, they worked. Excellent set up by the way, but when the spells went off together there was a bit of element cancelling and the victims got what was left over, magically speaking."

Phineas frowned. "It could have been fatal," he chided the still chuckling headmaster. Remus was amazed at his father's adacity at correcting Dumbledore.

"No, not these particular spells but it is something for young Mr. Lupin to keep in mind in the future." Remus nodded vigorously, despite the headache it gave him.

"Did the same thing happen then to explain how the Beast entered the shack?" Phinease brushed a lock of brown hair from his son's eyes.

"And what was it?" chimed in Remus.

"Ah!" Dumbledore shook his head ruefully. "I'm afraid I'm not entirely certain spell cancellation is how the Beast got in but Remus' additional spells mingling with mine certainly did not help."

"I won't ever cast spells there again!" Remus promised ferverently.

"Excellent notion," agreed Dumbledore. "As for the Beast itself, I have my suspicions. Sightings are rare, more frequent among wizards than Muggles, but rare all the same. No one who has seen a Beast, or arenotelicon, like this up close has the same description, other than a canine-like animal with a strong musky smell. Theories abound from spell-mutated werewolves to something unknown and unregistered. The occurences of it being spotted is only when an arenotelicon attacks. I believe further rarity of the creature is because it is transgendered, thus allowing itself to reproduce without needing a partner." 

Everyone stared at Dumbledore in disbelief. "Some frogs and other amphibians change their gender and thus perpetuate the species. It's entirely possible that the arenotelicon could do the same, thus why there are so few. They seem to be solitary creatures, not needing packmates like wolves or hyenas. Arenotelicons also seem to have a penchant for human flesh but go for humans who are alone and thus without much defense, like shephards or lone travelers. They also go after animals a bit smaller than they or less powerful, like sheep, pet dogs and other animals of medium size."

"And werewolves," Remus murmured.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, and werewolves, though I've never heard of a werewolf surviving an arenotelicon attack. Usually werewolves are attacked in mid transformation by the arenotelicon, according to accounts I've read, for the werewolf in question is always found dead, half-transformed." Remus shuddered. "Yet he waited until you were transformed before attacking."

"Could the Beast have not been an arenotelicon?" questioned Madam Pomphrey aghast.

"Possible," nodded Dumbledore, "but it had all the features of one, a very old one at that. Likely this beast had challenged so many werewolves, lived so long it was bold and overconfident. It happens, but the incident is something you will have to keep in mind in the future, Remus. Your alternate nature is a challenge to many creatures, vampires for example."

Remus nodded resignedly. "You're not going to expel me, are you, Professor?" he asked fearfully.

Dumbledore watched him for a long moment and then shook his head. "No." Remus sighed with relief. "But you and your three friends will be serving detention for the next week for this incident. I somehow doubt you weren't knowledgable of their plans to go to the village. I'd like to know how they snuck past Filch though. He was quite on the lookout for you four since your incident earlier in the year."

Remus tensed when his father demanded, "Incident?"

Dumbledore's beard twitched. "Ah, Phineas, boys will be boys. It was nothing serious, just egos bruised is all. Detention was served and the lesson hopefully learned." Phineas didn't look pleased with the explanation but he was mollified.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

"Remus!" exclaimed Peter in horror. James and Sirius looked equally horrified so Remus assumed that he still looked pretty terrible.

"What happened?" demanded James, looking his friend over carefully.

Remus' father and Dumbledore chose that moment to come up behind Remus and stopped as the boys were blocking their path. To Remus' shock, as well as everyone else's, Sirius turned on Remus' father. His hands were clenched in tight fists of rage and everyone could hear the grinding of his teeth.

"You've got some nerve!" spat Sirius, pushing himself between Remus and his father.

Phineas looked confused. "I beg your pardon?" he asked politely.

"Bringing him back looking like this!" shouted Sirius angrily, waving a hand in Remus' direction. The three boys and Dumbledore paled as Sirius' accusation sank in. Phineas Lupin was still out of the loop.

"Mr. Black," Dumbledore said sharply but Sirius ignored him, completely intent on Remus' father.

"Did he fall down the stairs? You were teaching him to fly and he fell off his broom? An infestation of poltergeists?" Sirius continued to point at Remus, his finger straying from one bruise to another huge welt. "I've heard it all to cover what people like you do to your children! How about this one! It's my favorite...he tripped on the rug and banged himself against the hall table."

"Mr. Black!" roared Dumbledore to ward off further diatribe. He looked as shaken as Remus felt. Sirius spoke with the air of authority, of someone who not only knew the excuses to cover abuse but also one who had used them himself. His rage was palpable but not as much as his fear. Remus realized then that Sirus' bitterness toward his family was more than justified.

"Are you suggesting I beat my son?" gasped Phineas in surprised outrage.

"No," snapped Sirius, "I'm flat out accusing you!"

"Sirius!" cried Remus and James in unison. Peter just looked faint.

"Mr. Black!" protested Dumbledore at the same time. "That is enough!"

Phineas was stiff as a board as he pulled Remus to him, holding him tight. Remus could feel his father's tense outrage at the accusation and knew that anything his father said would matter little to Sirius.

"I would never hurt my son," began Phinease and continued over Sirius' derisive snort, "but I understand why you would think so."

Everyone stilled but Remus watched the anger on Sirius' face turn to wary skepticism. "Yeah?" he drawled. "Then why does he always have bruises and cuts when he comes home? Why is his voice always hoarse, like he'd been screaming and crying? He's all quiet and reclusive. Remus shows all the signs of having snot beat out of him once a month."

Everyone winced at the bluntness.

"Sirius, I -"

"No, Remus, I want to see how good _his_ lies are."

"Mr. Black, I will not tell you again that this is enough!" snapped Dumbledore. "No wonder you're in Gryffindor, with nerve like this."

Sirius only sniffed.

"Sirius Black, I assure you I do not beat my son. Remus is all I have. I could never hurt him, at least on purpose," assured Phineas tiredly. "I work with potions, inventing and working with experimental potions. Perhaps Remus has mentioned this?" The boys nodded. Phineas' face looked tired and grey. "My wife, Remus' mother, had an incurable disease that I was hoping to cure with my experiments. It..." Phineas too a steadying breath before continuing. Remus could tell that, despite the modifications, the truth of emotion was being bared. "It didn't help, I didn't get it in time. She left us. Remus had been such a help when he was home and I found little time to work in my laboratory when he left for school that I asked the headmaster if Remus could come home once night a month to help out. He agreed."

"The illness was that bad then?" asked a saddened Peter, sidling over to stand next to Remus.

"Very," confirmed Dumbledore without turning a hair and before either Lupin could speak. "To tell you the exact nature of the illness would be a breach of personal modesty, boys, so do not ask the nature of the illness." All three, Sirius included though still skeptical, nodded.

"Some of my ingredients had to be fresh extracts from some dangerous creatures and Remus had to help me," Phineas continued smoothly but with a faraway look in his eye. 'Some of that was true,' conceded Remus to himself. "Sometimes his mother..."

"Papa!" That was going too far to Remus' way of thinking. That was disparaging a woman who'd only abandoned her family, not physically abused them.

Phineas gave his son a sharp look that subsided Remus' protests. Even Dumbledore looked startled at the comment, giving the younger Lupin the idea the canny old wizard knew the true circumstances of the Lupin family. It also seemed to be translated by the other boys that Dumbledore had not known of Mrs. Lupin's "violent episodes", solidifying the elder Lupin's story as truth.

"But what about after Christmas?" persisted Sirius. 

"Please, Sirius," begged Remus tiredly. "Let it go."

"No!" shouted Sirius. "It's bad enough that I-" He stopped himself, going ashen. "You're too nice a guy to live like that," Sirius finished lamely but with determination.

"And you aren't?" shouted Remus back, startling everyone. He'd had enough. "You think _you_ deserve it more?"

Everyone froze again, with Remus and Sirius nose to nose. Sirius looked away after a moment.

"Maybe, maybe not. We're not talking about me, we're talking about you."

"Are we?" countered Remus, causing Sirius to flinch. "I was helping Papa with occamies last night. He's using the scales for ingredients." Remus' tone brooked no argument. "This is the last time I want to hear you accusing my father of abusing me or we aren't friends anymore." Sirius looked appropriately strickened at the thought. "All right?"

"Yeah," Sirius finally mumbled. "All right."

"I am, however, grateful, boys, that my son has such loyal friends. Due to my eccentricities and his mother's illnesses, Remus never had the chance to meet other children his age. I was afraid that he would have a hard time at school." Phineas smiled, a slow smile just like his son's. "I'm pleased to see my fears are unfounded."

The four boys returned the smile. "He's a good friend to us, sir," James replied with a mischievous grin in Remus' direction.

Dumbledore saw the grin. "And as such good friend, he no doubt had some hand in the mischief you three got into last night. Since I had to take care the aftermath, I will be in charge of your detentions."

The four boys looked properly appalled by this news, as well as chastened.

"And what will that detention be?" asked Peter nervously.

"Ah, Mr. Pettigrew," Dumbledore chuckled softly. "You'll just have to wait until next Monday evening at nine o'clock to find out, won't you?"

Sirius swallowed loudly. Peter looked like a frozen rabbit in wand light. James closed his eyes as if before an executioner and Remus' stomach did somersaults. Four days to sit and wonder!

"You'll be all right then, Remus?" asked Phineas, turning his son around to face him.

"Yes, Papa, I'll be fine," replied Remus reassuringly.

"Then I'll meet you in London at the train." Remus agreed and Phineas and Dumbledore continued to the front door, deep in conversation, leaving the four boys alone. The silence was awkward.

"Remus, I'm sorry I -" started Sirius but Remus turned on him angrily.

"My father is who you should be apologizing too," Remus said coldly and spun to walk away. Another thought struck and he turned back sharply. "And, yes, you _should_ apologize to me too! I repeatedly told all of you that your beliefs about me being hurt at home were wrong yet you still took me for a liar. Is this how friends act to each other? If that's the case, then maybe I don't need friends!" He turned and raced away, running blindly down the halls, not sure where he was going.

He bumped into someone, muttered an apology and continued. "Typical!" spat Snape's voice. "No one matters but you."

Remus skidded to a halt, ready to fight the Slytherin if that was what Snape wanted. He was spoiling for a fight. "What?" he snapped, turning back around. He gave a start.

Snape was against the wall, as if leaning on it for support, books and papers were scattered all over the floor. Snape's expression was pained and angry. "I've been working on this project for four weeks, organizing it and researching it. Finally got it all together and now this. Thanks a lot, Lupin."

Feeling guilty, Remus went to help pick it up only to be shoved away by Snape.

"Leave it alone!" the Slytherin exclaimed. "Just go away!"

"Snape, I'm sorry, I -"

"Hard of hearing, Lupin?"

"I'm sorry," Remus blurted before he took off running again.

He made it to the Gryffindor Common Room in no time flat, chest heaving with the exertion. "Hey Lupin you look like..." Remus didn't stay to hear the rest. He belted up the winding stairs and collapsed sobbing on his bed.

"Why?" he sobbed to himself. "Why can't I be like everyone else? Why can't I be human?"


	18. Chapter Eighteen

The last bits of the school year passed uneventfully. Through small conversations during their detention with Dumbledore (magically cleaning every painting in the castle), Remus made up with James and Peter. He was still terse with a remorseful Sirius but they were talking at any rate. Dumbledore sensed the tenseness but when asked if he could help was given a terse but respectful, "no thank you, Professor."

The Leaving Feast approached and still Remus felt like an outsider. The fight with the arenotelicon had taken a mental toll. Remus knew now that he'd never understood what he was but after insisting on seeing the damage his werewolf self had done, hearing Dumbledore's description of the fight, Remus understood that being at Hogwarts was giving him a false hope.

"I'm a monster," he whispered outloud.

"What?" asked James, startled.

Remus had forgotten he was with James, Peter and Sirius by the lake. "I'm sorry, just thinking outloud."

"Why are you a monster, Remus?" pressed James, turning to face him.

"I - well, that is," Remus floundered, his eyes involuntarily meeting Sirius'. "I am for staying mad at Sirius so long." Sirius tensed his shoulders a moment, as if waiting for the axe to fall, not looking at Remus. "My dad was right. It's nice that I have friends who are willing to stand up for me, even against my family." Sirius didn't relax one bit. "And their own," Remus added meaningfully. He stuck out his hand for Sirius to shake. "Thanks for being a friend, Sirius. I hope I can return the favor."

Sirius' face lit up and he shook Remus' hand vigorously. "Anytime!"

"And I'll do the same for you," Remus stated firmly.

"Yeah," chimed in Peter, slapping his hand on top of Remus and Sirius clasped hands. "All of us will."

James' hand clamped over Peter's. "Till the bitter end," he vowed.

"The bitter end," the other three intoned.

Remus felt forty feet tall and invincible. As long as his friends didn't know he was werewolf, everything would be perfect.

* * *

The train back to London's Platform 9 3/4 was a quiet trip, with just the four boys conversing with themselves. Remus got up once to go to the loo and on his way back happened to glance into a compartment to see Snape studiously bent over his "project". The Slytherin was so engrossed in it that the train could have derailed and he likely wouldn't have noticed. Thinking that the other boy was definitely a strange one, Remus went on to his compartment.

Steam gushed from the train as it pulled to a stop, billowing out white clouds to add to the atmosphere of a train station from half a century before. The old style engine creaked to a halt and students poured out, collecting bags, saying final farewells and looking for parents. Remus spotted his father waiting patiently by a barrier post and waved. The elder Lupin waved back, a smile creasing his face.

"Well, mates, it looks like this is it til next year," said Peter, holding out his hand for a shake. The other three obliged. 

"Send owls," reminded James to them all. Remus and Peter nodded. "And Sirius, see if you can get your parents to let you visit."

"Fat chance," snorted Sirius morosely.

"Sirius Black!" A tall, stately woman with hair black as Sirius' and eyes the same grey came bustling up. "What are you doing?"

"These are my friends, Mum," Sirius began, a pained expression on his face.

Mrs. Black looked the other three boys up and down and gave a sniff of disapproval. "Pure bloods, I hope, young man?"

"Don't know, don't care," Sirius stated defiantly.

Mrs. Black drug him off by the arm, berating him for his lack of familial and wizarding pride. Sirius managed to throw one last look over his shoulder that clearly said good-bye.

"Feel sorry for the guy," sighed Peter. "I thought my mum was just smothering. His is just plain awful."

"Which is why he needs friends like us," nodded Remus.

"Yeah." James shook his head. "Let's see if we can get him to visit us over holiday, mates, get him away from there at least for a little while."

Remus agreed. "It's the least we can do."

The three Gryffindors parted company. Remus walked toward his father and passed Snape being petted by his mother and his father shouting at her to "stop babying the boy". Snape had a distinct long-suffering look on his face, which went blank as soon as he saw Remus walk by. The Slytherin sneered at him but Remus kept going without stopping.

He stopped in front of his father and looked up at the older Lupin with a smile. "Ready to go home, son?" Phineas asked.

"Yes, Papa, all ready to go home." The two Lupins headed toward the barrier entrance of Platform 9 3/4, walking amiably side by side, father and son. "And Papa?"

"Yes, Remus?"

"I'm glad you're my father. I don't think I could have ever gotten a better one."

Phineas only laughed and pulled his son into a light hug. "Just you remember it, my boy, just you remember it."

{END}


End file.
